West Midlands Police chief pledges more bobbies on beat and more arrests in force shake-up

Under the biggest reorganisation of the force in years, West Midlands Police will have dedicated teams of officers in seven areas across the region, including Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton.

They will each serve under a Chief Superintendent commander with a remit to arrest more offenders and improve response times to reports of crime.

Chief Constable Craig Guildford said: "The new local policing model will help us to get better at solving local issues and preventing and solving crime by working in partnership with communities to deliver justice and keep people safe across the West Midlands.

"The one message that I would like people to take away is that you can expect to see more officers spending more time in your local community."

The force is battling with soaring rates of violent crime and currently has the highest rate of knife crime in the country. Other weapons offences have also risen steeply over the last 12 months, as have burglary, theft, vehicle crime and sex offences.

It comes after more than a decade of police budget cuts saw officer numbers slashed by more than 2,000 and dozens of police stations shut down and sold off, under previous chief constable Sir David Thompson and successive police and crime commissioners.

The new model comes after an extra 1,200 officers were taken on as part of an uplift programme. It will see more officers on the beat in dedicated areas, with teams based at the same local police hubs as neighbourhood officers.

The force says the local investigation teams will have a "renewed focus" on areas such as burglary, robbery, vehicle crime and domestic abuse, and will be tasked with delivering "better outcomes".

There will also be an "increased use and availability" of local custody facilities to support a pledge to arrest more offenders.

Mr Guildford, who joined the force from Nottinghamshire Police in December, said the changes would "best serve the public".

He said: "Our local policing teams will be all aligned under a chief superintendent in each of the seven boroughs across the region.

"This is really important for me, about local ownership and working together. In particular, it's important to understand that response officers will work with local neighbourhood officers and also the local CID in every area across the force.

"Those borough commanders are very important individuals in bringing together local resources, owning local problem solving and the public will see many more police officers being visible.

"We won't be in all the response hubs that we were before. We will be in more police stations, which we will be responding from.

"I'm very much looking forward to more local working and local problem solving, and I'm looking forward to expanding our ability to be able to investigate more crime than we could previously."

Mr Guildford also said it was his "firm intention" to take on more officers over the next year.

Chief Superintendent Richard Fisher, Wolverhampton's commander, said the new model would give him "more resources directly under my control".

He said: "We're making sure our officers and staff are more visible and accessible and we want to make Wolverhampton the safest borough it can be."