New commanders for West Berks excited to join local policing area
ANDY Penrith and David Whiteaker have started their new roles as commander and deputy commander for the West Berkshire local policing area (LPA).
Stepping into the role vacated by superintendent Helen Kenny, superintendent Penrith was formerly the head of Armed Policing in the Joint Operations Unit between Thames Valley and Hampshire Constabulary.
On his appointment, he said: “I am really pleased to become the LPA commander for West Berkshire, and look forward to continuing the great work by the previous leadership team and carried out by our officers and staff daily across the area.
“We’re here to protect our communities, and those most vulnerable, and our focus will be on serving victims, fighting crime and building trust in the community.
“We will be striving to deliver an excellent service to all of our communities, getting the basics right around our response, investigation and support to victims of crime.”
Mr Penrith has a breadth of policing experience covering local policing, firearms and detective roles within the force and South East Regional Organised Crime and Counter Terrorism units.
Chief inspector David Whiteaker also joins as the deputy LPA commander following the retirement of chief
inspector Andy Hunt.
“I am very happy to be joining West Berkshire as deputy LPA commander,” he said.
“Having begun my career in Berkshire, then subsequently spending a number of years working in both Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, it is good to be back and working with excellent colleagues and partners to deliver for our communities.”
Mr Whiteaker also joins from the Joint Operations Unit, having most recently been the lead for teams providing specialist capabilities such
as police dogs and the mounted section.
With more than 15 years of experience with Thames Valley Police, Mr Whiteaker has worked in a variety of uniformed and detective roles at every rank, including response, custody and criminal investigations department.
He is also an experienced public order commander, having worked on operations including Reading Festival, the AI Safety Summit in Bletchley and numerous football matches.