Acting / Secondment - Sergeant - Assessment & Investigation Unit 

Slough

Full Time: 40 hrs/week (All roles are available for flexible working including job sharing and part-time unless there are legitimate operational / business reasons why this cannot be accommodated)

1 x Acting / Secondment role available 

Expected Start Date: As soon as possible (Please note that start dates will be subject to impact assessment with T&R)

Expected End Date: 31st March 2026 (Please note that end dates are subject to change and, depending on the needs of the department, may be extended or reduced)

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Applications and will be invited from Substantive Sergeants for a Secondment and Substantive Constables for an Acting.

Please be advised; police staff take priority for this position, with police officers only be considered if there are no appointable police staff.

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Role Profile: Acting / Secondment - Sergeant - Assessment & Investigation Unit - Slough

In this role, you will be responsible for providing strong, visible supervision of AIU officers/staff in the prioritisation and investigation of reported crime that does not require an initial deployment and, in so doing, improve 
both the quality of service provided to victims and the response to threat, harm, risk and vulnerability.

Principle Responsibilities:

• Utilise advanced people management and leadership skills to develop and support a complex resourcing mix of officers (e.g. student officers) and police staff, including those with challenging personal and/or work situations. Apply appropriate Force/AIU processes and support to respond to welfare, sickness, performance, attendance and adjusted duties matters.
• Understand, promote and apply AIU principles and processes to ensure the team works consistently, effectively and efficiently in providing the best service possible to victims.
• Contribute to the review and development of the AIU principles and processes in the relevant forums.
• Lead and develop the team’s ability to work at pace while ensuring the quality of triage and investigation is not inappropriately compromised. Provide visible and dynamic leadership to own team and, where necessary, other teams in order to drive triage and investigations forward, ensuring briefings are used to maximum effect to support the team in managing their workloads efficiently.
• Ensure the appropriate triage of crime in accordance with AIU triage principles, including that appropriate contact is made with the victims (making best use of MS Teams and video call technology). Working with the triage SGT, develop the quality of team’s triage ensuring that it effectively assesses victim impact and threat, harm, risk and vulnerability, that secondary investigation is completed and that the appropriate safeguarding concerns are identified and referrals made.
• Allocate triaged investigations to an appropriate AIU OIC, in line with the prioritisation grading of that crime, whilst balancing individual’s investigative workloads. Ensure the timely progression of initial investigative actions, including the taking of victim statements. Report P1 investigations to DMM.
• Supervise AIU investigations in line with the AIU and Force principles of crime supervision, operational guidance and Force policy, ensuring timely, appropriate and necessary enquiries are undertaken in line with the prioritisation grading of that crime and taking into account victim impact, public interest and threat, harm, risk and vulnerability.
• Ensure opportunities to achieve a ‘formal action taken’ outcome and / or prevent a future crime are acted upon where it is reasonable to do so and that victims are consulted on their preferred outcome at the earliest opportunity. When filing without a ‘formal action taken’ outcome, complete AIU filing template and ensure all reasonable lines of enquiry have been pursued.
• Oversee the allocation of crimes to other departments / LPAs where the crimes fall outside of the scope of the AIU, ensuring that handover packages are of a high quality and (in the case of crimes passed to the ICR due to the necessity to arrest) that all reasonable lines of enquiry have been completed (unless not appropriate to do at that stage).
• Utilise advanced Niche skills in order to efficiently and effectively oversee the team’s investigative workload, data quality and Niche compliance (for example, Victim Code compliance). Additional use of the SIPO (service improvement Portal) to support the monitoring of your team’s performance.
• Ensure crimes are recorded accurately and are compliant with Home Office Counting rules (HOCR) and National Crime recording Standards (NCRS) File incidents in accordance with both, adhering to force policy.
• Escalate issues that could affect the effectiveness of the unit, particularly around wellbeing of staff and criticality of investigations. 

Essential Role Based Training: NCRS for DDM, and AIU Supervisor Training

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For further information regarding the role, please contact Sarah Holland C6987, Paddy Navin P5605 or Shamsher Dhothar P7310.

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Application Method:

Click 'apply' at the bottom of the screen and complete the application form. Applications must include the following:

• Why Me Why Now Letter (WMWN) detailing why you believe you have the right skills/experiences for the role, with evidence that aligns with the CVF (A copy of TVP’s CVF map is attached to this advert) and how this opportunity fits in with your development plan.
  • Candidates must use the attached WMWN Template above.
  • Your WMWN letter should adhere to the following formats:
    • Typed in Open Sans Font, Size 12
    • No More than 2 pages of A4
    • With the margins unmodified from the standard 2.54cm, Line Spacing set to 1.0 and paragraphs aligned to 'Justify'
• Last fully completed PDR
• Completed Line Managers Endorsement Form:
  • All applicants must complete the Line Manager Endorsement Form. The form requires a Chief Inspector or Superintendent’s signature, regardless of whether they are on the Shortlisting Panel. Please be aware that verbal endorsement will not be accepted.
  • If you are unable to obtain one or both endorsements in time for the closing date, please submit your partially complete form along with a statement in the relevant box stating that you have requested endorsement and are awaiting a response. Late endorsements should be emailed to poirecruitmentfc@thamesvalley.police.uk
    • Please note that applications without a completed endorsement form will be graded, but not progressed until the endorsements have been received.
      

Adjusted Duties Officers: For more information on the application process for ADOs please follow the link: People Directorate - Adjusted and Recuperative duties guidance.

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Important Guidance for Applicants:

If you are currently in a Force critical post, there is an expectation that you will remain in that post for a minimum of two years before applying to change roles (or 18 months for custody sergeants).

Candidates may be required to pass vetting and OHU or attend assessments and courses for this role. If any of these are failed the candidate will be posted back to their previous position. Postings are determined in accordance with organisational need although consideration will be given to personal circumstances.

For any queries regarding the advert or recruitment process, please e-mail Police Officer Internal Recruitment quoting reference 13664.

Suitably endorsed and eligible applications must be completed by Midnight, Sunday 21st September 2025.