A territorial police force is a police service that is responsible for an area defined by sub-national boundaries, distinguished from other police services which deal with the entire country or a type of crime. In countries organized as federations , police responsible for individual sub-national jurisdictions are typically called state or provincial police .
52-590: West Midlands Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. The force covers an area of 348 square miles (900 km) with 2.93 million inhabitants, which includes the cities of Birmingham , Coventry , Wolverhampton and also the Black Country . In 2020, there were 6,846 officers, 484 police community support officers (PCSO), and 219 volunteer special constables . The force
104-410: A "wider spread of crime", prevented the police doing everything the public want or expect of them. The current chief constable is Craig Guildford, and the deputy chief constable is Scott Green. The West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), established in 2012 as one of several directly-elected police and crime commissioners is responsible for oversight and accountability for WMP and appoints
156-410: A WMP constable resigned after having been found to have fabricated the death of a partner in order to receive bereavement leave and other benefits; Chief Constable Thompson said the officer would have been dismissed for gross misconduct had he not resigned. In November 2023, His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary placed West Midlands police under "special measures", and the force's monitoring level
208-657: A number of other mergers which would have cut the number of forces in England and Wales from 43 to 24, were abandoned in July 2006 after widespread opposition from police and the public. Because of prison overcrowding in October 2006, up to 44 prison cells at Steelhouse Lane police station in Birmingham were made available to house inmates as part of Operation Safeguard and in accordance with an agreement between West Midlands Police and HM Prison Service . In October 2008,
260-399: A number of sergeants and an inspector. Key responsibilities of response teams are as follows: The core policing teams are supported by, and work closely with, a number of specialist crime teams. West Midlands Police had a mounted division which was disbanded in 1999 to divert funds elsewhere. Current specialist crime teams include: Air operations in the force's area have been provided by
312-523: A number of shifts, each supervised by a sergeant, and will have an inspector supervising the sergeants. Key responsibilities of investigation teams are as follows: Aligned to specific neighbourhoods, these officers seek to tackle long term issues affecting local areas and attend community meetings. There are 171 neighbourhoods across the West Midlands, and officers assigned to neighbourhood teams are often supported by PCSOs and special constables. It
364-657: A possible attack and preventing terrorism by working in the community to address the causes of terrorist activity. Most dogs in the West Midlands Police Dog Section are products of an in-house breeding program which the force has been running at its Balsall Common training centre since 1994. Specialist search dogs including Springer Spaniels and Labradors are also used by the Dogs Unit to locate drugs or firearms and explosives. Dogs are continually recruited from rescue centres and from members of
416-480: A second three-year term in 2013, then stepped down at the beginning of 2016. He was succeeded by Dave Thompson , who had previously been Deputy Chief Constable. In March 2021, Oliver Banfield, a probationary officer with West Midlands Police, was convicted of assault by beating after using techniques taught in police training to attack a woman while off-duty. Banfield was sentenced to a 14-week curfew and ordered to pay £500 compensation to his victim. Former Leader of
468-510: A wide geographical area, including in the West Midlands the M6 , M54 and A45 . Based in Birmingham, Counter Terrorism Policing West Midlands (CTPWM) is responsible for co-ordinating the force's counter-terrorism activity. CTPWM works under the guidance of the Government's national counter terrorism strategy, CONTEST , with the aims of pursuing terrorists, protecting the public, preparing for
520-582: Is a partner, alongside Staffordshire Police , in the Central Motorway Police Group . The force is party to a number of other resource sharing agreements including the National Police Air Service . Prior to the formation of West Midlands Police as it is known today, the area now covered by the force was served by a total of six smaller constabularies. These constabularies were as follows: West Midlands Police
572-400: Is led by Chief Constable Craig Guildford. The force area is divided into ten Local Policing Units (LPUs), each being served by four core policing teams – Response , Neighbourhood , Investigation and Community Action & Priority (CAPT) – with the support of a number of specialist crime teams. These specialist teams include CID , traffic and a firearms unit . West Midlands Police
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#1732787253259624-448: Is not uncommon for busier areas, such as town centres, to have several neighbourhood teams such as the St. Matthews beat covering Walsall town centre, which has two teams. Neighbourhood teams usually have a single sergeant who reports to a sector inspector. Response officers work in shifts around the clock answering the most urgent calls for service received through the force's call centres. It
676-619: Is not unusual for response officers to work alone and each response shift usually has a number of officers who are authorised to carry Taser . In addition to Taser, some response officers also carry mobile fingerprint ID machines to confirm identities at the roadside. Response officers undergo enhanced driving training and also have a range of other skills required to perform their role including 'method of entry' training so that they can force entry into premises. Many response officers are also public order trained in order to respond to spontaneous disorder should it occur. Response teams are supervised by
728-645: Is structured in such a way that there are a number of key teams in each LPA who have the responsibility for dealing with everyday policing duties. The force's current structure was gradually introduced over the past two years with the Solihull and Birmingham South LPUs being the first area to see the change in June 2011, and the Walsall LPU being the last in January 2013. The structural change was introduced as part of
780-630: Is the federal-level police service. It also acts as the provincial police service in every province except for Ontario , and Quebec , which operate provincial police services, as well as Newfoundland and Labrador , which is served by the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary . The RCMP is also contracted to act as the territorial police force in Nunavut , Yukon and the Northwest Territories in addition to being
832-679: Is the use of such a force in East Timor in substitution for Indonesian National Police . Leicestershire Police Leicestershire Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the counties of Leicestershire and Rutland in England . Its headquarters are at Enderby, Leicestershire . Leicestershire Police was formed in 1839. In 1951 it amalgamated with Rutland Constabulary to form Leicestershire and Rutland Constabulary and in 1967 merged with Leicester City Police to form Leicester and Rutland Constabulary . After
884-406: Is unquestionably more demand than there was in 1974.” In the 2021/22 financial year, West Midlands Police's budget was £655.6M, an increase from £619.7M in 2020/21. West Midlands Police covers an area of 348 square miles (900 km) with 2.93 million inhabitants, which includes the cities of Birmingham , Coventry , Wolverhampton and also the Black Country . As of September 2020,
936-749: The G8 Conference in Scotland in 2005 or COP26 officers of the Metropolitan Police who are on protection duties anywhere in the United Kingdom and when taking a person to or from a prison . The United Nations (UN) has operated territorial police forces in those parts of countries which have been under control of the UN from time to time. These were usually formed from police personnel on loan from member countries. A recent example
988-535: The Local Government Act 1972 came into force in 1974 it was renamed Leicestershire Constabulary. In 2012 it changed to Leicestershire Police to be 'in keeping with modern policing'. In 1965, Leicestershire and Rutland Constabulary had an establishment of 748 officers and an actual strength of 659. Proposals made by the Home Secretary on 20 March 2006, would have seen the force merge with
1040-574: The National Police Air Service since 2012. Previously, the Midlands Air Operations Unit was a consortium of West Midlands, Warwickshire, West Mercia and Staffordshire Police based at Birmingham Airport. It operated from July 1987, until it was replaced by the After experimenting, since the 1970s, with civilian helicopters hired on an occasional basis, West Midlands Police launched their own air unit on 10 May 1989. A WMP helicopter
1092-692: The federal police force in those Canadian territories. A separate Sahrawi indigenous unit serving the Spanish colonial government was the Policia Territorial . This gendarmerie corresponded to the Civil Guard in metropolitan Spain . It was commanded by Spanish officers and included Spanish personnel of all ranks. In the United Kingdom (UK) the phrase is gaining increased official (but not yet statutory ) use to describe
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#17327872532591144-613: The Autumn political party conferences that are often held at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham. Included within this department also is the Football Unit who coordinate policing of football games within the West Midlands and operate a team of "spotters" to identify violent supporters and banned individuals. Territorial police force The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP/GRC)
1196-639: The Chief Constable Sir Paul Scott-Lee announced he would not be renewing his contract in May 2009, after seven years in the post. His replacement was Chris Sims . The force attracted controversy in 2010 when Project Champion, a £3 million scheme to install a network of CCTV cameras in the predominantly Muslim areas of Washwood Heath and Sparkbrook , came under fire from local residents and civil rights organisations. A total of 218 cameras had been planned for installation but
1248-648: The Opposition Harriet Harman described the fact Banfield did not receive a custodial sentence as “proof ... that [the] system fails women and protects men”. After the conviction, the Crown Prosecution Service apologised for initially declining to charge Banfield. In a May 2021 hearing, Banfield was found guilty of gross misconduct and banned from policing for life. A 2021 investigation by Newsnight and The Law Society Gazette found that alleged hate crimes in which
1300-471: The United Kingdom. The following table shows the percentage of cases resulting in a criminal charge or court summons in West Midlands Police's jurisdiction, by offence group, for the period from April 2020 to March 2021: Dave Thompson stated that unforeseen pensions expenses of £8.6M in 2019 and £13.9M in 2020, from a budget of £514M cost roughly as much as 500 officers and would lower
1352-664: The chief constable. As of 2024, the current PCC is Simon Foster . The West Midlands PCC replaces the West Midlands Police Authority, which was founded in 1996. Before it was replaced, the chair of the West Midlands Police Authority was Bishop Dr Derek Webley, of the New Testament Church of God in Handsworth , the first non-politician member of Authority to be elected chair, and the first African Caribbean chair of any police authority in
1404-590: The collection of forces responsible for general policing in areas defined with respect to local government areas. The phrase " Home Office Police" is commonly used but this is often inaccurate or inadequate as the words naturally exclude forces outside England and Wales , but include some special police forces over which the Home Secretary has some power. The police forces referred to as "territorial" are those whose police areas are defined by: Members of territorial police forces have jurisdiction in one of
1456-414: The force has 6,846 police officers , 219 special constables , and 467 police community support officers (PCSO), 165 police support volunteers (PSV), and 3,704 staff. In 2019, 10.9% of officers were from a BAME background, compared with 8.5% in 2014. The area covered by West Midlands Police is divided into seven Local Policing Areas (LPAs). Each LPU is headed by a chief superintendent, responsible for
1508-400: The force's 'Continuous Improvement' programme with the ambition of working in a more cost effective and efficient manner and was overseen under the advice of accounting firm KPMG . Prior to Continuous Improvement, the force had operated with larger response and neighbourhood teams and smaller teams allocated to prisoner handling roles. Community action and priority teams were a new addition to
1560-446: The force's structure under Continuous Improvement. The core policing teams are: The 'PCT' support neighbourhood officers to address local issues and resource demands for service not met by other departments. They can be allocated to neighbourhoods suffering particular issues, for example anti-social behaviour, and are also often public order trained, so are used for policing football matches, demonstrations and similar occasions. As with
1612-539: The investigation teams, the community action and priority teams are supervised by a sergeant, who reports to an inspector. Key responsibilities of community action and priority teams are as follows: Officers on investigation teams have three main responsibilities, these being secondary investigation, prisoner handling and attending scheduled appointments with the public. These officers are also responsible for completing prosecution files and other paperwork necessary for taking cases to court. Investigation teams are split into
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1664-614: The late 1980s as defendants showed that evidence had or may have been tampered with. West Yorkshire Police led an investigation which led to a small number of internal disciplinary proceedings, but did not recommend any prosecutions for lack of evidence. However, over 60 convictions secured from their investigations have now been quashed, including those of the Birmingham Six . West Midlands Police had two serious firearms incidents, in 1980 and 1985. In 1980, David Pagett held his pregnant girlfriend as hostage while resisting arrest by
1716-584: The line of duty. Since its establishment in 1984, the Police Memorial Trust has erected 50 memorials nationally to some of those officers. The following officers of Leicestershire Police are listed by the Trust as having died attempting to prevent, stop or solve a crime: The local policing units for Leicestershire Police are as follows: City: County: Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) conducts
1768-696: The new force was Sir Derrick Capper , the last Chief Constable of Birmingham Police. Between 1974 and 1989, the force operated the West Midlands Serious Crime Squad . It was disbanded after allegations of endemic misconduct, leading to a series of unsafe convictions. These included allegations that officers had falsified confessions in witness statements, denied suspects access to solicitors and used torture such as "plastic bagging" to partially suffocate suspects in order to extract confessions. They were alleged to have abused payments to informers. A series of around 40 prosecutions failed in
1820-483: The other four East Midlands forces to form a strategic police force for the entire region. These plans were dropped in 2007. In 2015, the force attempted to carry out a covert CCTV face recognition surveillance operation at the Download Festival , in which festival-goers would have their faces compared with a database of custody images, and only informed about the surveillance afterwards. The operation
1872-444: The overall policing and management of the area, supported by a Local Command Team (LCT) composed of a varying number of superintendents and chief inspectors. Each LPA has a number of dedicated Neighbourhood Policing teams. These cover a specific area and are headed by a sergeant with support from a number of police officers, PCSOs and sometimes special constables . The force operates a number of police stations . West Midlands Police
1924-491: The police. Officers returned fire, and shot her. Police had initially tried to claim that Pagett has shot her, but it became clear that it was police bullets that had caused her death. In 1985, John Shorthouse was arrested by West Midlands police for questioning about armed robberies in South Wales. His house was then searched. His five-year-old son, John, was shot by police searching under the child's bed. An internal inquiry
1976-461: The project was abandoned following concerns over their legality and objections from residents and local councillors that they had not been consulted by the force. Between April and September 2010, WMP budgets were cut by £3.4 million as part of a programme to reduce spending by £50M over four years. In response to the 2010 Comprehensive Spending Review , Chief Constable Sims said WMP would need to reduce spending by up to £123 million over
2028-541: The public. All specialist dogs are handled by officers who already have a general purpose police dog, giving the handler responsibility in both training and operational deployment. Prior to 2013 there were 69 operational dog handlers working in West Midlands Police, dogs underwent an initial training program lasting twelve weeks. Officers with the Dog Section patrol in specially adapted Skoda patrol vehicles with air conditioned cages capable of carrying up to three dogs in
2080-418: The rear and operate from bases at Aston , Canley and Wednesbury . The events planning department has responsibility for co-ordinating large-scale events taking place within the force area and also for ensuring that officers are available should they be required to support other regional forces through mutual aid arrangements. One major responsibility of the department is organising the policing operation for
2132-544: The regulation to be unlawful. In 2015, 498 former WMP officers were seeking compensation. The ruling was later overturned by the Employment Appeal Tribunal , whose decision was upheld in the Court of Appeal in 2017. Plans to privatise parts of the force were halted by Bob Jones, the force's first Police and Crime Commissioner , upon taking office in 2012. Chief Constable Chris Sims was reappointed to
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2184-399: The same period. In 2010, the force implemented regulation A19, requiring officers with 30 or more years service to retire, in response to government funding cuts. The regulation, used by 15 forces to make emergency savings, led to 591 WMP officers being forced to retire. Some of these officers later took WMP to an employment tribunal , alleging age discrimination . In 2014 the tribunal found
2236-606: The terms of the Act and some are armed. West Midlands Police is one of the two police forces who contribute officers to the Central Motorway Police Group , the other being Staffordshire Police . CMPG operate out of three main bases, the main headquarters being under the M6 motorway at Perry Barr at which their central control room and vehicle depot is situated. CMPG also have a regional control centre in Quinton, Birmingham shared with National Highways . Officers attached to CMPG cover
2288-440: The three distinct legal systems of the United Kingdom – either England and Wales , Scotland or Northern Ireland . A police officer of one of the three legal systems has all the powers of a constable throughout their own legal system but limited powers in the other two legal systems. Certain exceptions where full police powers cross the border with the officer are when officers are providing planned support to another force such as
2340-492: The total number of officers to 6,000, contrasted with 8,600 in 2010. Thompson added, “There is no question there will be more obvious rationing of services. The public can already see it is going on. We are already not pursuing crimes where we could find a suspect. We are doing things now that surprise me. We are struggling to deliver a service to the public. I think criminals are well aware now how stretched we are. These further cuts will leave us smaller than we have ever been. There
2392-407: The victim was a police officer were significantly more likely to result in a successful prosecution across a number of force areas including the West Midlands. The investigation found that in the year ending March 2020, crimes against police officers and staff constituted 7 percent of hate incidents recorded by West Midlands Police, but resulted in 43 percent of hate crimes convictions. In March 2022,
2444-542: Was destroyed by arson in June 2009, while at Birmingham Airport . The West Midlands Police force area includes Birmingham Airport which is on the Solihull LPU. The airport has a dedicated airports policing team assigned who work closely with Border Force customs and immigration officers. Officers working at the airport have additional powers under the Terrorism Act 2000 as the airport is "designated" under
2496-673: Was enhanced, as it was "not effectively addressing the inspectorate's concerns". The inspectors reported that the force was not carrying out investigations effectively or managing the public's risk from known sex offenders. The chief constable and West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster said they completely disagreed with the decision. As of 2018, West Midlands Police was smaller than at any previous time in its history, having lost nearly 2,300 officers since 2010. Government funding for West Midlands Police fell by £145M since 2010. In 2018, Chief Constable Dave Thompson said that falling numbers of police officers due to funding cuts, and
2548-495: Was formed on 1 April 1974, owing to the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972 which created the new West Midlands metropolitan county. It was formed by merging the Birmingham City Police , the earlier West Midlands Constabulary , and parts of Staffordshire County and Stoke-on-Trent Constabulary , Warwickshire and Coventry Constabulary and West Mercia Constabulary . The first Chief Constable appointed to
2600-572: Was held, and as a result, use of firearms was restricted to a specialised and trained unit. Allegations of bribery and corruption were made in 1994 by World in Action , an investigative current affairs TV programme. The convicted criminal David Harris alleged that West Midlands police officers had demanded payments of more than £200,000 to keep criminals including himself away from prosecutions. Other allegations from police officers focused on officers attempting to persuade others to accept bribes. The CID
2652-453: Was inadvertently revealed in the magazine Police Oracle before the festival took place. The aim of the operation was to identify organised gangs of pickpockets deliberately targeting festivals across Europe. As of November 2022 the chief constable is Rob Nixon. The chief constables of Leicestershire have been: The Police Roll of Honour Trust and Police Memorial Trust list and commemorate all British police officers killed in
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#17327872532592704-559: Was the focus of an investigation by Leicestershire Police at the request of the Police Complaints Authority. Under proposals announced by the then Home Secretary , Charles Clarke , on 6 February 2006, West Midlands Police would have merged with Staffordshire Police , West Mercia Constabulary and Warwickshire Constabulary to form a single strategic force for the West Midlands region. This, along with
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