BOTH West Mercia Police and Warwickshire Police have been rated as ‘good’ following an inspection by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary review into police efficiency.
The overall judgement of HMIC it found that West Mercia is ‘well prepared to face its future financial challenges having achieved notable increases in efficiency and improved resilience through its alliance with Warwickshire Police, which has allowed it to minimise the impact of reductions in spending on frontline policing.’
It also found that the force had achieved more savings than required over the last spending review period. In last year’s value for money inspection, which considered how forces had met the challenge of the first spending review period, West Mercia was also judged to be good.
The HMIC review, carried out during inspections from March to June 2015, described the alliance with Warwickshire as ‘unique’ and the most extensive collaboration between forces in England and Wales.
“This extensive collaboration has enabled both organisations to achieve budget reductions by operating more efficiently. Joint resources are used flexibly, providing added resilience that neither force could have afforded on their own,” they said.
However HMIC warns that the police service faces major challenges in the years ahead from reduced budgets, fewer officers and more complex crime and expressed disappointment that West Mercia had not completed a strategic assessment of the threats and risks faced by local communities with no force plan on how to tackle those risks.
Despite this statistics for the force show that it has more officers on the frontline – 95 per cent – than the rest of England and Wales – 93 per cent – and that the cost per head of officers was £85 (£86 for Warwickshire) compared to £115 for the rest of England and Wales.
Victim satisfaction stood at 83.7 per cent.
Since 2010, West Mercia police has seen a reduction of 377 officers, 257 staff and 71 PCSOs full time equivalents (FTE).
During this time period the proportion in frontline roles has increased from 92 percent in 2010 to 95 percent in 2015.
Warwickshire police since 2010 have seen a reduction of 145 officers, 204 staff and 52 PCSOs full time equivalents (FTE).
During this period there have been falls in the total number of police officers FTE over the period 2010 to 2015. During this time period the proportion in frontline roles has increased from 87 percent in 2010 to 95 percent in 2015.
HMIC found five forces to be ‘outstanding’ – Cheshire, Durham, Lancashire, Norfolk; and West Midlands. The force graded ‘inadequate’ was Humberside.
