Cllr Barry Durkin
Chairman
West Mercia Police and Crime Panel
22nd August 2023
By Email – [email protected]
Dear Barry,
Thank you for your letter of 7th August, and for the Panel’s consideration of my Annual
Report.
To respond to the two points that were raised in your letter:
- ‘Frontline policing’ is not a straightforward term, nor is it well or consistently
defined. In an environment where criminality frequently takes place away from a
public setting such as domestic abuse, cyber crime), the nature of ‘frontline
policing’, is an evolving practice.
More than 90% of West Mercia’s police officers operate in what would be seen
as frontline roles. Of the 500 additional officers added to West Mercia’s
establishment in recent years I am confident that the number in frontline roles will
be higher than that figure of 90%. As the Panel is aware, I have continued to
prioritise ever greater resource to community policing in recent years, along with
significant investments in (amongst other functions) investigations, violence
against women and girls and neighbourhood crime fighting teams. - The feedback from the Panel is noted. It will of course be a matter for the
Commissioner to determine after the 2024 PCC elections, but certainly my intent
for the Panel, via the budget metrics and performance reports, is to look to
provide a consistent representation of key crime measures, along with relevant
context / narrative.
Yours sincerely,
John Campion
Police and Crime Commissioner West Mercia
