WEST Mercia Police have been recognised as being ‘good’ at reducing crime following an inspection.
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) published its reports into ‘police effectiveness’ on Thursday (March 2) and found West Mercia were good at keeping people safe and reducing crime in 2016 – an improvement on 2015, where the force were judged to ‘require improvement’.
The report found the standard of investigations across West Mercia had improved and vulnerable victims were receiving a better service.
In addition, the force were found to have made improvements in the way it tackles serious and organised crime, although its approach to crime prevention required improvement.
Anthony Bangham, West Mercia Police chief constable, said: “I welcome the HMIC’s inspection report and I’m pleased to see highlighted areas of work which continuously protect people from harm in our communities.
“Although generally positive, the report concludes there is room for improvement and I’m pleased we’ve already taken steps to improve our support of vulnerable people.
“As a force, we’ve implemented an ongoing and progressive strategy to better equip our officers and staff with the skills required to support the most vulnerable members of our communities.
“This has been recognised by HMIC and our intention is to not just satisfy these requirements, but to become great at protecting the most vulnerable.”
