Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster has urged the government to make sure police forces hit hardest by the unfair allocation of officers and funding are first in line when it starts recruiting extra officers.
The PCC has written to the Home Office calling for West Midlands Police to be prioritised when it comes to levelling up on officer numbers and police funding.
He said the current position is “truly stark” with the region having 800 fewer police officers and 400 fewer PCSOs than it did in 2010. Rebuilding community policing is one of the PCC’s top priorities.
It comes after the government this week announced an “ambitious” programme of police reform, which included a Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, to rebuild trust and confidence between local forces and the communities they serve.
The announcement also included half a billion pounds of additional government funding for policing next year.
The Police and Crime Commissioner, Simon Foster, said:
“The government’s commitment to strengthening local policing is welcome, particularly for forces like West Midlands Police that still has 800 fewer police officers than it had in 2010.
“This is despite other forces serving lower crime, rural, older population areas of the country, now having more police officers than they have ever had in their forces’ history.
“The government’s Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee is an opportunity to level up, right that wrong and remedy this serious injustice. I am calling on the government to prioritise forces, like West Midlands Police, that still have fewer officers than they had in 2010.
“In addition, the current police funding formula, that decides the share of national funding that each force receives, is universally acknowledged to be outdated, unfit for purpose and has never been implemented.
“This means West Midlands Police receives £40m a year less than the formula says it should. WMP needs to have enough resources to prevent crime and protect the public effectively. The Police Funding Formula must be reviewed urgently and replaced as soon as possible.”
You can read the letter here:
