'Not sustainable': West Midlands Chief Constable makes public apology over police service
West Midlands Chief Constable Dave Thompson has made a public apology for the service which the force is sometimes forced to provide.
He gave stark details of the fallout from deep budget cuts and the sharp reduction of almost 2,300 in the force's strength.
Mr Thompson admitted: "Policing is stretched, particularly over the summer and the service some people get may not meet with their or my expectation."
He explained: "What I have to provide is a level of neighbourhood policing to deal with long time issues in the public. We spend the sixth highest amount of money of any police force in the country on that.
"We have got to provide a service for domestic violence victims, investigate homicides, deal with gangs, deal with gun crime, deal with modern day slavery. That list has got bigger over the last few years. At the same time the spread of crime and demand on the service is going up because local authorities and other services have been reduced and so more vulnerable people are coming to the police.
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"We are absolutely at a point where that is not a sustainable position for the police any more. So on occasions the service the public get has changed. We may be dealing with them over the phone when they would like to see us. I am sorry about that but that is the reality of where policing is now."
Mr Thompson said the resources available meant that the bar had to be raised over which crimes the police could respond to immediately. This could mean offences such as anti social behaviour, criminal damage and car thefts waiting longer to investigate and, in some cases, possibly not be investigated at all.
The Home Office said: "We expect the police to investigate every crime and allegation thoroughly. Police have the resources they need to carry out this vital work and we have provided a strong and comprehensive settlement that is increasing total investment in the police system by over £460m in 2018/19. West Midlands Police will receive £534.3m in direct resource funding in 2018-19, including council tax precept – a cash increase of £9.9m compared with 2017/18.
"However, we know the nature of crime is changing. That is why the Policing Minister has spoken to every police force in the country to understand the demands they are facing and why the Home Secretary in May committed to prioritising police funding in next year’s Spending Review."
The Home Office said: "Police have the resources they need to carry out this vital work and we have provided a strong and comprehensive settlement that is increasing total investment in the police system by over £460m in 2018-19.
"West Midlands Police will receive £534.3m in direct resource funding in 2018-19, including council tax precept - a cash increase of £9.9m compared with 2017-18."
Because the nature of crime is changing, the spokesman added, the policing minister had spoken to all forces to understand the demands they were facing. He said the Home Secretary had committed to prioritising police funding in next year's Spending Review.
