Express & Star

VIDEO: West Midlands Police will get better despite cuts, insists chief constable Chris Sims

West Midlands Police will be able to better protect the public in coming years despite looming budget cuts and thousands of job losses, the chief constable has insisted.

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Chris Sims said the force unveiled its 2020 blueprint outlining how it will advance over the next five years.

The changes have been drawn up as the force battles to save an extra £120 million and prepares to axe up to 2,500 officers and staff, as revealed in yesterday's Express & Star.

Speaking in Birmingham yesterday Mr Sims said the model represented a 'radically different way of working' based on four core principles.

These include a focus on how the force use information, an ambition to engage with the public more effectively but in different ways, a focus on pre-emptive work to prevent crime and becoming more innovative and reflected on its work.

He told a meeting of the region's Strategic Policing and Crime Board the 2020 Blueprint had achieved the right balance between modernising the force's operations while also achieving savings.

Mr Sims, said: "I can say with confidence the outcomes for policing and the level of protection the service will be able to give the public by 2020 will be better than what we are currently delivering.

"But the style with which we achieve that will have to change. And not all of it will be comfortable for and welcomed by the public."

The 2020 Blueprint is the result of a £25m five-year deal with consultancy firm Accenture and pinpoints 36 major changes to working practises which are specifically aimed at making the best use of new technology.

Neighbourhood policing will be scaled back with teams given problems to target, rather than it being a 'universal offer'.

There will be greater use of technology in a bid to predict potential problems and people will increasingly have to report crime online.

Joint working with councils will be increased and inquiries into crimes such as burglary will be sped up by immediately downloading information like CCTV mapping of the area, fingerprint and criminal record details and even DNA to the officer at the scene through mobile technology.

West Midlands Police has already been forced to cut £126m from the budget and lost 3,000 people from the payroll since 2010.

It is unclear how many of the further job losses will involve police officers.

And at yesterday's meeting Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson said the exact number of losses would depend on future government budgets.

Brendan Connor, a member of the Strategic Policing and Crime Board, told the meeting it was the right decision to proceed.

"The process we have been through to get this point today has been rigorous and has recognised the sensitivity of public money," he said.

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