Bhupinder Rai

My name is Bhupinder Rai and I joined Thames Valley Police (TVP) in March 1992 and spent the first 12 years of my career at Slough Police Station. I specialised from Uniform patrol to the Intelligence teams and then qualified as a Detective. I later chose to experience a different type of policing and joined the Community Safety team as Schools Officer and, within a short time, was promoted to Sergeant.

My next move was to set up a Prisoner Handling Unit where I worked as a Detective Sergeant. I was promoted to the rank of Inspector in 2006 and worked in Neighbourhood Policing before moving to TVP’s Force HQ to work on the Force Strategic Programme. An opportunity arose, enabling me to work as part of the Professional Services Department, investigating complaints and police misconduct, allowing me to view policing from another perspective. I then worked on Community Cohesion and Neighbourhood Policing in Buckinghamshire, where I was promoted to Chief Inspector, deputy commander, for a Local Police Area.

I later returned to the serious crime world as a Detective Chief Inspector overseeing serious and complex investigations. I was promoted to Superintendent in Oct 2015 as Local Police Area Commander for the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. In 2018, I moved to lead the Forces CID teams as head of the department in the rank of Detective Superintendent.

Since then, I have also undertaken the roles of Local Police Area Commander for Reading Borough and Head of Roads Policing for Thames Valley Police and Hampshire Constabulary. My final role in policing was as a temporary Chief Superintendent, Head of Local Policing in TVP.

Throughout my career, I have been heavily involved in raising and helping to resolve issues relating to Black and Asian staff and communities. I was the deputy and the chair of TVP’s Support Association for Ethnic Minority staff (SAME) for over 10yrs stepping down in 2014/15. I also performed the role of the national lead for issues of Race for the Police Superintendents’ Association of England & Wales from 2017 until 2021.

I care passionately about the future and the reputation of the service and its people. In all these roles, I prioritised promoting equality and fairness by working with departments internally and externally, supporting and advising regarding issues of RACE, fairness and equality. I helped to shape TVP’s response to the progression of Black and Asian officers and staff through seminars and development days and was instrumental in the setting up of the Force’s Positive Action Learning sets (positive action initiative aimed at working with constables from minority backgrounds to assist with promotion and specialisation).