West Midlands Police has been assessed as good overall in the latest PEEL Effectiveness report released today (Thursday 2 March) by Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary (HMIC).
The report, which rates every police force in the country, says West Midlands Police is good at preventing crime, tackling anti-social behaviour and keeping people safe, highlighting the broad range of methods used to communicate with the public.
The force was also assessed as good at investigating crime and reducing re-offending, praising the new crime recording process which ensures victims are regularly updated. Offender management has also achieved consistent reductions in re-offending by serial offenders.
The report says improvement is required in investigating offences involving vulnerable victims and working with other public service organisations to keep people safe. It recommends better risk assessment of domestic abuse victims and missing children.
The force is good at tackling serious and organised crime, saying there are a variety of effective projects in place to deter people from becoming involved.
HMIC acknowledges that the force has effective specialist capabilities and is well prepared to respond to an attack which requires an armed response and has thoroughly assessed the threat of a terrorist attack.
Deputy Chief Constable Louisa Rolfe said: “We continue to strive to reduce crime and ensure our communities are safe places for the residents and visitors of the West Midlands force area.
“We are pleased with the outcome of the report and that HMIC recognises the work we are doing.
“We acknowledge that improvements still need to be made in protecting vulnerable members of our society and we are continuing to invest in our Public Protection Unit, which has significantly increased in size in recent years and continues to do so.
“A team dedicated to finding missing people has been introduced in the past year aimed at reducing the time and resources required to return missing people to safety and providing support to prevent them from being absent again in the future.”
Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson said: “I welcome this report showing that West Midlands Police is effective at keeping people safe, preventing and reducing crime.
“I recognise that there are improvements that need to be made to safeguarding and will work the force bring them about.”
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