Pledge to get bobbies back on beat

The new neighbourhood police inspector for Smethwick has vowed to get more officers onto the streets in a bid to tackle the scourge of yob behaviour.

Inspector Bal Mand, who used to police some of Wolverhampton's troublesome neighbourhoods, will over-see neighbourhood policing around the Abbey, Smethwick, St Paul's and Soho and Victoria wards.

He told the Express & Star that he would create a dedicated team to deal with anti-social behaviour and bring in administration staff to lift the burden of filing and paper work for officers.

He said: "We are putting a specialist team together with a sergeant, four Pcs and four PCSOs who will concentrate solely on anti-social behaviour.

"They will work late shifts from 11am and midnight throughout July and August patrolling the well-known anti-social hotspots and responding to any reports.

"These officers will not be burdened with paperwork, we may get other staff to take on their paperwork so they can be out on the streets as much as possible."

He cited criminal damage, stone throwing and name calling as the typical examples of anti-social behaviour and played down problems with gun crime in the town.

Gun man Tien Van Le was jailed for seven years last month after firing shots in the Vietnamese Club in Wellington Road, while last year a three-year-old boy picked up a loaded gun in Oakfield Close, and fired it through a parked car.

Mr Mand said: "These were high profile incidents but they are not common. If I compare Smethwick with other places I have worked there is not a big problem."

He also said that he was looking forward to continuing the work of police officers who are stationed in schools around the town.

Full-time officers are currently based at Shireland Collegiate Academy in Waterloo Road and Holly Lodge High School in Holly Lane.

He said: "I don't see this as anything other than a good thing. Having police officers in schools makes young people more aware of the law and how to behave – it does not mean that there is a problem with crime there. We have found it worked very well in the past."