Record number of civilian investigators hired by West Midlands and Staffordshire Police forces
Police forces in the West Midlands and Staffordshire are hiring a record number of 'civilian investigators' to cover a shortage in officers, an Express & Star investigation has found.
A total of 126 civilian investigators are used by West Midlands Police, 89 by Staffordshire Police in April. This compares to a combined total of 51 in 2014.
Officers receive six to eight weeks training covering interviewing, taking statements, criminal law and building a case file.
Jobs include carrying out house-to-house enquiries following a crime.
The increased use of the officers come as both forces record huge drops in officer numbers due to policing cuts.
However, West Midlands Police has spent more than £4million on the investigators since 2014.
A spokesman for the force said: "At the time [in April], the force did not have a sufficient number of permanent employees with the skills to undertake the roles to support police officers. In order for us to have set the roles up permanently, it would have taken far longer to plan and implement, creating bigger risks around resilience and service levels being maintained."
At West Midlands Police, the civilian officers get up to £26,802 a year, at Staffordshire, £24,030.
A spokesman for Staffordshire Police said: "Every investigative officer receives six to eight weeks training before they start in the role.
"The training covers areas like interview techniques, taking statements from witnesses, criminal law, administration and working with police systems, building a case file, first aid and how to create a case file for an investigation.
"They will assist a detective with an investigation.
"The detective will make all the decisions around an investigation and be assisted by the investigating officer.
"The sorts of jobs an investigating officers might be tasked with include house-to-house enquiries, getting statements, assisting with interviews and compiling information for the case file.
"Investigative officers are used to provide support in investigations for detectives and neighbourhood officers to help them focus on more advanced tasks and to progress the investigation."
Liberal Democrat campaigner Rob Quarmby said: "The unprecedented cuts to the police service have meant that officers are under more strain now than ever before. We are now seeing police officers taking hundreds of years of time off in stress.
"We always thought the thin blue line was getting thinner but it's now the sick blue line."
