Charles Pollard

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Sir Charles Pollard QPM, born February 4, 1945, was Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police from 1991 to 2001.

Pollard was educated at Oundle School and began his career in the police force at the age of 19 as a constable in the Metropolitan Police. He then undertook the accelerated promotions course at Bramshill Police College. On completion, he was awarded a Bramshill Scholarship to pursue a degree course of his choice and, in 1971, he was accepted by Bristol University to read Law.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, he pursued his career in policing in London and Sussex, and, in 1991, he was appointed Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police, the largest non-metropolitan police force in the UK, serving more than two million people.

As Chief Constable, his vision of policing went far beyond the crudely retributive justice and zero tolerance policies favoured in the 1980s. Instead, he developed the policy and practice of restorative justice which aims to foster individual responsibility by requiring young offenders to acknowledge the consequences of their actions, and to make reparation both to their victims and to the community.

Under his leadership, Thames Valley Police pioneered the restorative justice model which was subsequently adopted throughout the country. He also promoted restorative justice through his membership of the Youth Justice Board, the Justice Research Consortium and the Winchester Restorative Justice Group.

From 1996 to 1998 he was Oxford chairman of the charity Common Purpose.

He has collaborated with leading criminologists in Australia and North America, and is a Reader in Criminology at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2001 he was knighted in recognition of his services to policing and criminal policy. Since standing down as Chief Constable of the Thames Valley Police in 2001, he has devoted his time to the Youth Justice Board, and was formally appointed as its Acting Chairman by David Blunkett. He was succeeded as Chairman by Rod Morgan in 2004.

He was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Bristol in 2003.