West Midlands Police forced to increase officers after leak revealed website exaggerated numbers
Two number-crunching councillors have proved the West Midlands Police’s website exaggerated how many PCs and PCSOs were on the beat.
West Midlands Police have now agreed to allocate more resources to Halesowen which had the lowest police presence in the region.
Residents reading the police website would have believed PCSOs in the Halesowen Neighbourhood Team worked every day in the town when in fact they are only in each ward two hours a week.
Halesowen North councillors Parmjit Sahota and Hilary Bills, a former council manager and teacher, campaigned for years to get more bobbies on the beat. However, after being leaked West Midlands Police data they finally had a smoking gun to present to senior officers.
After a revolving door of police top brass, who oversaw the slight-by-hand presentation of policing numbers, Chief Inspector for Dudley Police, Chief Superintendent Anthony Tagg, decided to address the councillors’ concerns.
Councillor Sahota worked closely with the police for 20 years in Sandwell and understands the labyrinthine methods used to calculate the hours of officers and PCSOs. .
He told the Express & Star: “They could not argue with my information as in my previous role in Sandwell as an officer I worked with the police over 20 years co-chairing multi-agency meetings to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour.
