Coventry's new police lead pledges tough approach to racist officers

Ch Supt Paul Drover has taken over as the new borough commander for Coventry

The new police chief for Coventry has pledged to stamp out any cases of racism or homophobia within the force.

Ch Supt Paul Drover recently took over from Pete Henrick as borough commander and has served within West Midlands Police for the last 23 years.

He is now responsible for policing and emergency response across the city.

He told BBC CWR that his policing priority was addressing violent crime on the streets.

Before becoming Coventry's local police commander, he led West Midlands Police's criminal investigations department.

Ch Supt Drover said: "I will be doubling down and focused on criminality, it's a commitment that I will make publicly to make sure that we keep people safe and the villains and the criminals get locked up and get dealt with appropriately."

Standards

In terms of policing standards and earning public trust, he said staff would be removed from the force if they were seen to exhibit racism or homophobia.

He added: "If you are a racist, if you're a homophobe there is no place for you in policing.

"There are conduct matters that get looked at where you can be subject to warnings and written warnings, but let's break it down, if you are somebody who is inherently racist, we don't want you here and you're not welcome within the organisation."

The new commander said he wanted to crack down on violence on the streets of Coventry

He also announced plans for a new police base and custody suite in the Chase Avenue area of Coventry.

Drugs being brought in and out of the city has been highlighted as an issue plaguing Coventry, with drug warrants being issued every week.

"I want to make sure that communities can feed in and let me know what they think is important and we can together work towards making sure we make it the safest place possible," the new commander said.