David Jamieson, a former councillor for Kingshurst and Fordbridge, gave a stark assessment of the challenges facing officers when he addressed Solihull Council this month.
He revealed that since 2010, the force’s budget had been cut by £145million (around a quarter of the total) and it had lost around 3,000 staff (two thirds of whom were uniformed officers).
“Sometimes you will hear government ministers say that crime is reducing, well you just have to go around your own ward and ask that question...
“Crime is not reducing. Some crimes have reduced, some have increased and some crimes have increased in importance.”
The Commissioner also took a number of questions from borough councillors on matters of concern locally.
Coun Mark Wilson (Green, Smith’s Wood) wanted to know why it was that crime was on the rise.
While Mr Jamieson said that there was perhaps a greater willingness for people to report certain incidents – such as sexual offences – cuts had also played their part.
“The blue line is thinner than it was. That’s just a fact. We’ve got 3,000 fewer people now working on crime in the West Midlands than we had seven years ago, so that must be a contributory factor to it.”
Only this week, a survey suggested that almost half of people had not seen a uniformed officer patrolling their area at any point this year.
The poll, conducted by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, found that the number of respondents in England and Wales who had not seen a single patrol over the course of the 12 months had risen to 44 per cent. This was up from 41 per cent in 2016 and 36 per cent the year before that.
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