West Midlands Police

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West Midlands Police
Coverage
West Midlands Police
West Midlands Police area
Area Birmingham, Coventry, Black Country
Size 902 km²
Population 2.6 million
Operations
Formed 1974
HQ Birmingham
Budget {{{budget}}}
Officers 8,461
Operational Command Units 21
Stations
Chief Constable Sir Paul Scott-Lee QPM
Website West Midlands Police

West Midlands Police is the Home Office police force responsible for policing the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England.

Covering an area with nearly 2.6 million inhabitants, which includes the cities of Birmingham, Coventry, Wolverhampton and also the Black Country; the force is made up of 8,461 police officers, supported by 4,082 police staff, 802 special constables and 733 police community support officers. This makes it the second largest force in the country behind the Metropolitan Police and followed narrowly by the Greater Manchester Police.[1]

West Midlands is a partner, alongside two other forces Staffordshire Police and West Mercia Constabulary, in the Central Motorway Police Group.

Contents

[edit] History

A force, called the West Midlands Constabulary was initially created on April 1, 1966 under the Police Act 1964, with the re-organisation of the Black Country area as the five contiguous county boroughs of Dudley, Walsall, Warley, West Bromwich and Wolverhampton. Dudley Borough Police, Walsall Borough Police and Wolverhampton Borough Police were incorporated wholly into the new force, and it also took in part of the Staffordshire Constabulary and Worcestershire Constabulary. [2]

The force was initially headed by Chief Constable Norman W. Goodchild until 1967, when he was replaced by Edwin Solomon. [3]

The force was merged again, on April 1, 1974, because of the Local Government Act 1972 which created the new West Midlands metropolitan county, which covered the West Midlands constabulary area along with Birmingham and Coventry and a few other surrounding towns. It amalgamated with the Birmingham City Police and parts of Staffordshire County and Stoke-on-Trent Constabulary, Warwickshire and Coventry Constabulary and West Mercia Constabulary to form the present force.

Under proposals made by the Home Secretary on February 6, 2006, it would merge with Staffordshire Police, West Mercia Constabulary and Warwickshire Constabulary to form a single strategic force for the West Midlands region.[4]

Because of the prisons' overcrowding crisis in Birmingham in October 2006 three dozen police cells are to be made available to house inmates in Birmingham to help ease. (By contrast, one contemporary account reported, in 1833, that for days the city gaol had been entirely empty.[5]) Despite a dip in the number of prisoners in the same month, prisons in the region are close to capacity or already full. Now between 32 and 44 cells have been set aside at Steelhouse Lane police station, in Birmingham city centre in case of emergency. West Midlands Police has an established agreement with the Prison Service to provide cells in the event they are needed.[6]

[edit] Divisions and departments

West Midlands Police is split into 21 operational command units (OCUs). Each OCU is headed by a chief superintendent who is responsible for the overall policing and management of the area. Each OCU is split into a number of sectors - each headed by an inspector.

OCU STATION NAME

  • E3 Belgrave Road
  • H2 Bloxwich
  • E1 Bournville Lane
  • F1 Central Birmingham
  • M2 Chace Avenue (Coventry)
  • J1 Dudley North (Dudley)
  • J2 Dudley South (Halesowen)
  • E2 Kings Heath
  • M1 Little Park Street (Coventry)
  • D1 Queens Road (Aston)
  • F2 Rose Road (Harborne, Winson Green, Ladywood)
  • K1 & K2 Sandwell (West Bromwich and Smethwick)
  • L1 Solihull
  • D3 Stechford
  • M3 Stoney Stanton Road (Coventry)
  • D2 Sutton Coldfield
  • F3 Thornhill Road (Handsworth)
  • H1 Walsall
  • G2 Wolverhampton East (Wednesfield)
  • G1 Wolverhampton West (Bilston Street)

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ About us
  2. ^ Home Office circular 67-1966 announcing the force's creation
  3. ^ History of WM Police. Accessed via the Wayback Machine on January 31, 2006
  4. ^ BBC NEWS | Politics | Police mergers outlined by Clarke
  5. ^ Chambers Historical Newspaper 3.
  6. ^ icBirmingham - Police cells to ease prison crisis

[edit] External links

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