THAMES Valley police will tomorrow mark its 50th anniversary.

On April 1, 1968, Thames Valley Constabulary was formed from five forces: Reading Borough Police, Berkshire Constabulary, Buckinghamshire Constabulary, Oxford City Police, Oxfordshire Constabulary. The force was renamed Thames Valley Police in 1970.

It is using the anniversary to look back at the significant events that the force has been involved in over the past 50 years.

A force open day on August 18, which will take place at the police training centre in Sulhamstead, will be taking the theme of policing yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Chief Constable Francis Habgood said: "Thames Valley is an incredible place to police and I love working here. We have over 2.3 million residents in our force area and about six million visitors. It is the largest non- metropolitan force in the country.

"I have been in policing for over 30 years and the rate of change has accelerated massively. Our core principles remain the same: protecting the public, investigating crime, preventing crime but the landscape is now more complex and we need to make sure we continue to stay ahead of this challenge.

"I feel proud and privileged to be leading the service as we hit this milestone anniversary."