West Midlands Police are trying to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear following cuts of £124 million in recent years claims Walsall Council’s Liberal Democrat Group Leader Ian Shires following last night’s briefing session for councillors at Walsall Council House.

A spokesperson for West Midlands Police set the scene by saying that austerity cuts had meant that the Policing Budget for the West Midlands had reduced over time by some 22% resulting in a reduction in staffing levels of around 3,000 across the Force. This figure included a mix of back office staff and some Police Officers. As a result West Midlands Police has had to undergo a major review designed to change the face of Policing across the Force.

The good news is that the current level Police Community Support Officers some 452 in number will be protected under the new arrangements.

The new generation of local Policing will based on neighbourhoods. Each neighbourhood will be resourced according to need which has been established by years of crime and other data. The Neighbourhood Teams will be focusing on intervening sooner to prevent incidents occurring.

As well as the Neighbourhood Teams there will be a dedicated Response Team to deal with emergency incidents. New technology will mean that officers at both levels will have up to date information available at their fingertips. There is a growing demand from the public to be able to access a whole range of Police services online at a time which suits them. As a result work is going ahead to transform the Police Website to make more user friendly

There will also be some funding available to help build safer, stronger communities to help along with other partners to breakdown the cycle of deprivation which is the cause of much of the crime and anti social behaviour.

On the downside there will be things that we all expect the Police to do which will not be getting the attention needed and it was a real pity that the Police Crime Commissioner or one of his Assistants were not at last night’s meeting to face some of the questioning from Ian and other councillors present.

“Like us the Police Crime Commissioner and his team have to struggle with the very real difficulties which continued austerity measures by the Tories at Westminster present us with” commented Ian “We need to join together to really get home to MPs down in the Westminster bubble how devastating further cuts will be to our ability to continue to provide decent public services.”