Demand is reducing and communities are getting a better service from West Mercia Police, after the Police and Crime Commissioner invested in additional resources.
As part of the Police and Crime Commissioners 2019 budget proposals he committed to improving police resource, enabling the force to reduce the number of incidents which are un-resourced by 25%. The force have more than doubled on this promise with this figure falling 54% in the last 6 months. *
Other commitments made possible through the additional resources, include ensuring everyone who needs a non-urgent appointment to see a police officer will be offered one within two days, or at a later time by mutual agreement. This has significantly improved, with only a small number of appointments outstanding in November, all of which were less than two days old.
Improvements have also been made in response times to emergency calls, with the average call being answered in 13 minutes**. Progress is still being made to ensure, this is faster still once all of the newly recruited additional officers are on the streets in 2020.
Commissioner John Campion said “The public expect their taxes to be used to improve service and tangible and significant progression is being made.
This is good news for communities, with further improvements to service expected in the New Year, as more and more of the newly recruited officers, which I have invested in, are trained and on the streets. I will continue to listen to the needs of the public, and back the force with the right resources to ensure they get the service they need, when they need it.”
*In April 2019, the average number of daily un-resourced incidents was 247. By October 2019, this had fallen to 113 each day.
** As of October 2019. This is a 23 second reduction on the April 2019 average of 13 mins 23 seconds.
Issued: Monday 16th December 2019
