Day of action by all divisions of police force
A day of community policing and partnership work has been taking place across a busy city centre.
Officers from across the different divisions of West Midlands Police have been working together in Birmingham city centre today (December 19) to conduct operations, carry out warrants and arrest people causing harm in the community.
Members of the force have been joined by specialist department colleagues, including traffic officers, Dog Unit and Safer Travel Teams, as well as staff from Birmingham City Council and other organisations as part of Operation Advance.
Operation Advance is a region-wide event where staff and officers from every policing department both locally and from a force level work together to deliver 24 hours of intensive policing operations, with Birmingham the last of seven monthly operations.
A spokesman for West Midlands Police said: "Today (December 19), you will see intensive policing and partnership activity across Birmingham city centre.
"Continuing our series of hyper-intensive police activity days, Op Advance will see a day of community policing and partnership work to conduct operations, carry out warrants and arrest those causing harm to our communities.
"We’re being joined by colleagues from across our specialist departments including Traffic officers, colleagues from the Dog Unit and Safer Travel Teams, along with council staff and professionals, as well as volunteers, from other organisations to support our Op Advance day.
"There will be plenty of activity going on throughout the day with a combination of both enforcement and reassurance patrols.
"You will see a focus on retail crime including shoplifting, the selling of counterfeit goods and rogue traders.
"In the evening we will conduct activity aimed at keeping our city safe for anyone coming in to Birmingham across the festive period.
"We’ll be sharing updates throughout the day on social media and our website, so follow us on Birmingham Police Facebook and X (formerly known as Twitter).
"You can follow the progress of Op Advance via our website too at west-midlands.police.uk/your-local-police/op-advance/birmingham-december"
