West Midlands top cop warns criminals that reopened custody suites in Walsall 'will be filled'

Chief Constable Craig Guildford was speaking at the launch of the refurbished suite, one of two in the West Midlands to be brought back into use this week along with Stechford in Birmingham

He said: "My message to people who wish to cause angst in the Walsall area is clear – We have plenty of en-suite accommodation for them and we want to get it filled."

The opening of the two suites, which were mothballed in 2015 to help save money, means there will now be six across the force region open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including those at Oldbury and Wolverhampton.

Mr Guildford said: "Re-opening the sites has been achieved at a minimal cost with only some minor painting work needed. Custody staff have been trained and given more skills to become more versatile and further savings have been made as former staff weren’t replaced as they left."

It comes as part of a new policing model announced last month to increase police presence in neighbourhoods and engage with the community, as well as working with their partners to improve the area and cut down on crime.

Response officers will be more community based while local investigation teams have been told to focus on areas such as burglary, robbery, vehicle crime and domestic abuse to deliver better outcomes.

Thechief constable said: “This is the latest phase of changing the way we work to better serve local people and to cut down on crime by arresting those who would commit them.

"Since December 2022, we have seen arrest rates increase by 25 per cent with 1,000 people detained compared with 800 between the equivalent period from 2021-22.

"We have more officers working within our communities and instead of them having to travel several miles to a custody block when they have arrested someone they are now able to be much closer to a facility."

The force has recruited almost 3,000 new officers since October 2019 and he said this would continue, including targeting employees from the area where they would be based,

He added: "We are a big employer and we want to make sure out of those employees a percentage come from the area – such as Walsall – in which they will be working.

"That doesn't mean just police constables or officer but staff in jobs related to their work, like support services and civilian staff.

"The recruitment drive is going really well as evidenced by the number of new officers which have joined us but we won't stop there as the more resources we have, the easier it will be to cut down on crime and protect the community,"