PCC "confident" processes in place to ensure officers are accountable
At least 20 officers in Wiltshire have been barred from future police work in the last five years
Last updated 16th Oct 2025
Wiltshire's Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) admits it is concerning that the number of Wiltshire Police officers barred from service since 2020 has been growing.
At least 20 have been added to the banned from service list in the last five years, with a five year high in 2025 of eight.
But Philip Wilkinson says he's confidence the governance processes are now in place to ensure officers are held to account.
"One of the major initiatives I put in place when I took over was to put in place a proper chain of command and a proper performance framework where everybody was accountable to someone else," he said.
That included the appointment of Catherine Roper as Chief Constable.
The PCC insists leaders and managers within the Force need to know what people are doing, not to catch them out, but to ensure high standards of behaviour are encouraged.
He said: "I'm confident that we've got the processes in place and we are taking robust action."
Trust and Confidence within the Force
Mr Wilkinson told us there is often a lot of talk within policing about trust and confidence, most in terms of the public whom the Force serves. But he said it's just as important that officers and staff within the organisation have trust and confidence to report behaviour that is unacceptable.
"If an individual sees aberrant behaviour, they could go to Crime Stoppers and they can do it anonymously," he said. "But really, if we've got the proper management leadership structures in place where our own people are confident in their bosses. they will come to us and report individuals."
He added that officers failing to uphold the high standards of conduct expected by the Chief Constable and the public are "letting all of us down".
Mr Wilkinson said the performance frameworks in place are in place to support officers with appropriate action, which can include mentoring or small punishments for minor mistakes.
"We want them to correct their behaviours. We'll do all that because we want to maximise the potential of everybody and use that potential to create a really strong police Force.
"Trust and confidence must start internally. If we don't trust ourselves, how can we expect the public to trust us? So we need to get that right." he said.
The PCC and Chief Constable have a shared ambition to make Wiltshire Police Force one of England's outstanding operations.
Det Supt Geoff Smith, head of PSD, said: “These numbers are a reflection of our ongoing focus and determination to root out unacceptable behaviour from officers and staff.
“We expect the highest levels of professionalism from all of our officers, staff and volunteers and where this falls short, we have a transparent and robust approach to ensure that those individuals are held to account.”