VIDEO: Retiring Chief Constable on his triumphs and one regret

"I think people will be surprise how operational it is," the 57-year-old says in his last interview before retiring in three weeks' time.

"A lot of the authority for deploying tactics sits with the Chief Constable. So I get to be involved with that but at the same time you are running an organisation of 10,000 people and half a billion pounds so it is equally a management task and managing relationships with partners locally, central government other forces, and juggling all of those things.

"From my perspective doing that successfully you need to have a clear view of what you want to achieve otherwise you get caught up in the here and now. My view has been if we are not about protecting people what are we here for? All staff and police must put the public first."

Mr Sims' tenure at the top of West Midlands Police – the country's second-largest force – has coincided with a huge programme of budget cuts worth £130 million since 2010 because of government austerity.

Despite the loss of 3,000 police officers and staff, he believes the force is in a strong position, yet, as reported by the Express & Star last week, he admits the police can no longer respond to every call in person.

"You can always do more with more people – that is obvious.

"What we did is manage to get in a pattern where we were changing the way we worked quicker than we were losing staff so we managed like responding to the public and crime and slightly improved where we were but with the sense that if you do not change faster than you shrink you have a real problem.

"Terrorism was the only area that was protected financially for obvious reasons.

"I think we were able to take a lot of the pain of job losses from the areas that were not impacting on the service and protection of the public. I am not sure we could have continued that for another five years of cuts.

"We were in the throws of how we remodel neighbourhood and response policing. That is now for my successor to think through.

"The plan we did for 2020 was certainly a response to austerity but also primarily a response to what is happening in policing.

"One feature is the volume around issues like domestic abuse is massive. Domestic abuse, child protection are now huge in proportional terms and a greater part of our workload.

"Coming down the track and already upon us we have cyber and online crime. There's a different set of relationships coming through with the Combined Authority work. The change programme is as much about addressing those issues as it is cutting budgets. We need to carry on the change programme."

Mr Sims left Oxford University in 1980 with a degree in modern history before joining the Metropolitan Police in London.

Having risen through the ranks he transferred to Staffordshire Police as a Superintendent in 1994 and was promoted to Assistant Chief Constable of West Midlands Police four years later.

In 2003 he became Deputy Chief Constable and, following a stint as Director of Policing Policy at the National Policing Improvement Agency, became Chief Constable of Staffordshire Police in 2007. He returned to the West Midlands in June 2009 as Chief Constable.

He was awarded the OBE in 2003 and Queen's Police Medal in 2010.

He says on regret is that more has not been done to merge police forces or for them to work closer.

He says Britain's current 43 forces model is not sustainable.

He said: "Having been Chief Constable in Staffordshire and then at West Midlands, I probably hoped we would be further down the track with the work we do with other regional forces.

"We still run the motorway policing and more serious organised crime work together, but if you asked me six or seven years ago, I would have there would be more convergence. I think policing in the wider West Midlands region would be stronger if we worked together. Im heartened that there is fresh impetus on that. I will look on as a citizen with interest."

He also said that he believed the controversial Police and Crime Commissioners brought in during 2012 was not the 'perfect system'.

He said low election turnouts of around 10 per cent raised questions of 'legitimacy' with the public.

But stressed he had always worked well with the two commissioners to serve the West Midlands.

He said: "I have had the privilege of serving with two commissioners because the initial one, Bob Jones a man of Wolverhampton, sadly died in office and now with his successor David Jamieson.

"I do not think it is a perfect system and I do not think it has yet engaged the public. There are elections in May and I would love to think that more people would turn out and it will be higher than it has been and because there would then be more legitimacy because people have gone to the ballot box.

"I can say absolutely categorically that both the commissioners I work with have respected my role. There has never been an occasion when there has been any attempt to interfere with normal operational decisions. That works really well.

"I don't think that has been a problem in many places. It can be an intense relationship with one commissioner to one Chief Constable. I have been lucky I have got on with the people I have worked with but in other parts of the country the personal chemistry has not always worked which can make it hard."

In the West Midlands the Police and Crime Commissioner post is expected to be absorbed by the West Midlands Combined Authority and the Office of the West Midlands 'metro mayor' when it is established in around two or three years' time.

Mr Sims said: "If we move to a mayoral system I think there will be some strength with that sitting alongside and being with other services we work with and being governed alongside those.

Mr Sims said the proudest moment in his career came with swiftly restoring order to the streets following the 2010 riots and the investigation into racist killer and mosque bomber Pavlo Lapshyn who struck in Walsall, West Bromwich and Wolverhampton in 2013.

Lapshyn was caught in 2013 following a painstaking enquiry that saw detectives trawl tens of thousands of hours of CCTV to piece together the Ukrainian student's movements and link him to the three bomb blasts.

Mr Sims said "That investigation embodied all that is good about West Midlands Police: standing shoulder-to-shoulder with our diverse communities, fantastic detective work, and good old fashioned neighbourhood policing with officers knocking on doors until they came across Lapshyn's place of work.

"We were able to change the climate of an upcoming EDL protest against a backdrop of a potential terrorist threat."

He now plans a brief hiatus before aiming to return to policing in a senior leadership role nationally in the New Year.

He added: "I will miss the people and being at the heart of the big issues that affect people's lives in the West Midlands and hopefully influencing in a positive way.

"I intend to recharge the batteries for a while because as Chief Constable you never really switch off; I'm looking forward to that but don't want to be away from policing for too long.

"I'm delighted Dave Thompson is taking over the helm. The continuity, with him stepping up from Deputy Chief Constable, will undoubtedly make for a smooth transition. He is a man of vision and I have every confidence the force will go from strength to strength under his direction."

Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson described Mr Sims as 'an outstanding public servant' who has 'devoted his life to protecting the security and safety of the public'.

He added: "Chris Sims has served the West Midlands with distinction and given over 30 years of devoted service as an officer. I wish him all the best for the future."

Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner Yvonne Mosquito added: "Chris Sims has been an inspirational, innovative and independent force for good for policing. We could not have had a better Chief Constable serving the people of the West Midlands over the last six years."