Impact of 150 officers will soon be seen - PCC

Funding for the new officers was secured in April

Communities across the West Midlands should finally see the impact of much-needed new police officers in the autumn, the region's Police and Crime Commissioner says.

The recruitment process for 150 new neighbourhood police officers was currently ongoing after funding was secured from the Home Office to pay for them, Simon Foster said.

Up to 139 existing officers will be redeployed to neighbourhood policing teams, while a further 20 PCSOs are also being taken on, Mr Foster told a police and crime panel.

He was responding to concerns raised by panel members, including councillors Ram Mehmi, Stuart Henley and chair Suky Samra, that towns and cities were not seeing the impact of new policing.

In April, the government pledged £100m to put 13,000 extra police officers out on patrol across the country to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour.

In the West Midlands, each neighbourhood is to have dedicated officers working almost exclusively in the area, as well as a named officer for each ward.

"That is important in the West Midlands because increasing neighbourhood policing numbers is crucial for us as we still have around 700 fewer officers and 500 fewer PCSOs than we did back in 2010," Mr Foster said.

"That is despite many other forces having more police officers than they've ever had in their history.

"Something which is deeply inequitable, deeply unfair, it's inexcusable and unacceptable."

Mr Foster added that since early June "dedicated neighbourhood officers and the local action teams have been allocated to those local neighbourhood policing teams".

"I would expect once we are over the period of summer demand, by mid-September people will begin to see those new local neighbourhood teams beginning to make an impact and deliver in the local communities," he added.

"I know it was the policing minister's aspiration that certainly before the end of this financial year, people will definitely begin to see a difference and more impactful and reassuring presence in local communities across the West Midlands."

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.