Top officer vows to tackle violence caused by booze

Wolverhampton's new top policeman has vowed to tackle gun crime and drink-related violence, as a new style of policing comes into force across the West Midlands.

Chief Superintendent Neil Evans is now in charge of the whole borough, which has previously been divided into two policing divisions.

The changes, which came into force yesterday, see investigation of serious crimes moved to specialist teams of detectives.

Senior officers say the change will free-up local bobbies to deal with neighbourhood problems.

Mr Evans, who has been in the police for 26 years, moves to Wolverhampton police station from Wednesfield, where he was also a chief superintendent.

He has worked around the Black Country and was a sergeant in Wolverhampton in the mid 1990s.

Mr Evans said the problem of gun crime was still present in Wolverhampton, but there were only a small number of guns in use amongst criminals.

"We've had a fair amount of success with weapons recovered and people prosecuted. But any one of those incidents (shootings) has a potential to impact on public confidence because they are very serious.

"We've started to get a better grip on managing people involved in gun crime and we are probably in a better place than we were 12 months ago.

"There are weapons out there but we'll always work to secure them."

He said violent crime was "always a source of concern".Asked if more could be done to tackle drinks promotions, which have been blamed for late night violence.

He said: "We have to decide what's the most appropriate thing for the city centre. We realise people need to make a living, but we have to deal with the violent crime."