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Cough up more cash, demands West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson

Had David Jamieson's party won the General Election, his days as West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner would be numbered.

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But the Labour politician overseeing the work of the force is no cheerleader for the Conservatives who created his role.

Indeed he is now pleading with MPs of all parties to help him secure another £43 million - something he says is only fair given the multi-million pound cuts his officers have had to endure.

He watched Theresa May arguing with the Police Federation and accusing them of 'crying wolf' over the cuts.

"I wish she'd listen to the police and crime commissioners she created as well as to the Federation," he says from his office in Birmingham city centre.

Mr Jamieson is writing to 28 MPs asking them to make the case for more money. He stresses the force will continue to save money wherever it can and points to the controversial decision to close or reduce opening hours at police station front desks.

David Jamieson

"We will not be able to carry on doing all the things we are doing now," he says.

"The police force will look very different to what we have at the moment.

"I worry about how day to day contact with people may decline.

"The worst scenario will be a rise in crime. There's no way we're going to let that happen."

By 2020 the force will have around 2,500 fewer staff and officers.

Mr Jamieson said it was 'ludicrous' to suggest the force could just cut its 'back office'.

"The term is ludicrous," he said. "Back office staff would include forensics experts.

"These aren't people in uniform but they're vital. We can't just put uniformed officers on to answer the phones as it would be a waste.

In 2010 the force had 8,626 officers.

Today it has 6,985, a reduction of 1,641.

Civilian staff have been cut from 3,667 to 3,128. And Police Community Support Officers are down from 811 to 628.

They know they have to do more with less. And Theresa May's speech to the Police Federation underlined that that's exactly what the government believes as well.

Now Mr Jamieson's job is no longer up in the air, at least for now, he is reminding the government that he wants the police to have the power to ban thugs from public transport all over the West Midlands.

"In London, if you're banned, you're banned," he says. "Here, if you commit a crime on a bus in Wolverhampton, an application can be made to get you banned in Wolverhampton. But to do it across the West Midlands would require applications to be made in Sandwell, Dudley, Walsall, Birmingham, Solihull and Coventry.

"It can't be right that you can get banned in Wolverhampton but cross over into Walsall and Sandwell and carry on as before.

"I have cross party support for it. It makes sense."

His job is safe for the time being but there is also the issue of the proposed combined authority for the West Midlands, with the prospect of an elected mayor being touted by Chancellor George Osborne.

If it happens, the job of the crime commissioner could come under the mayoralty.

Mr Jamieson would consider running for that if it happened, joking that his wife would be glad to have him out of the house.

He is aware of the very different communities the role would have to represent.

"The Black Country was never Birmingham so I don't think it can be called Greater Birmingham," he says.

"It does make sense to work together. And the police can be an essential tool for economic development.

"Victims are often intimidated by what's happened to them and feel they cannot go out to work. Crime can destroy their confidence.

"By working with them, dealing with the offenders and getting them dealt with in the right way, we can help.

"If we get offenders back into work we reduce re-offending. That's a benefit to the economy too."

On the mayoralty of the West Midlands he says: "We need a powerful figure on these issues as they are important for everyone.

"A combined authority dealing with transport, regeneration, providing an umbrella for the police and fire service, that's not going to be running the libraries in Dudley.

"But it is going to get investment into the area that benefits Dudley, Wolverhampton, Walsall, Sandwell and everywhere else."

In the meantime there is still the issue of coping with less funding.

"We're looking at everything we do. We're not saying nothing can be done."

But the ways the force has saved money have proved controversial.

Most recently the closure of police station front desks and the reduction in opening hours has resulted in Labour MPs demanding a re-think.

"If we had lots of money we would keep the front desks open," Mr Jamieson says.

"But we don't. We have to do things differently.

"Within 12 months you should be able to track the progress of a reported crime online.

"Officers will be working at the side of the road with a tablet, entering information and retrieving information which at the moment they have to go back to a police station to do.

"It's causing officers stress travelling backwards and forwards rather than getting on with the face to face stuff.

"But unless we get a fairer funding deal the visible side of policing will be very difficult to sustain.

"We've lost 40 per cent of our funding. Most of our funding goes on staff. So we have thousands fewer people to do the job. I'm not trying to change the funding for police nationally.

"But in an area like the West Midlands, we need a fairer deal."

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