West Midlands Police chief constable tells officers 'catch more robbers and burglars this year'
The Chief Constable of West Midlands Police has told his officers to "deliver for the public" this year – by catching more robbers and burglars.
Dave Thompson said reducing the huge number of burglaries and robberies was his force's "big challenge" for 2019, with a clampdown on vehicle thefts a key target.
His New Year vow comes after a year that saw burglaries up by eight per cent and robberies rise by 22 per cent, as part of an overall increases in recorded crime of 10 per cent.
The chief constable has also pledged to deliver a "much harder punch" to organised crime this year, by targeting gangs behind the deadly spike in gun and knife crimes.
Mr Thompson said: "Our big challenge remains dropping the number of burglary and robbery crimes.
"Vehicles remain a huge part of this problem. There is terrific work underway with Operation Cantil, but we all need to work harder on every bit of the process.
"Getting initial attendance and investigation right. Effective prevention, good investigations and critically tight offender management."
He added that the force had made "good progress" but that there was "more to do."
"I shall be pushing us very hard in 2019 to deliver for the public," Mr Thompson said.
"Put simply I want to see burglary, robbery and vehicle thefts fall and for us to catch more offenders to achieve this.
"We then need to stay on top of this. I want a much harder punch delivered on organised crime, particularly groups behind our violence and gun and knife crimes.
"I want to keep going on violence prevention, including domestic abuse so we are a less violent region."
Last year Mr Thompson raised concerns over police officer numbers. He admitted that at times the force was struggling to provide a service to the public, and said criminals knew that police did not have the manpower to pursue them.
Looking to the year ahead, he said: "I want to improve the satisfaction the public have with our service this year. I want us to stay on top of the job queues. We are improving and we can do even better despite the challenges."
The Chief Constable also described 2019 as "a big tech year", with mobile fingerprint scanners and a new duty management system among the changes coming in.
