Foreword
Paul West, QPM, MA (Oxon), MSc, MA Chief Constable, West Mercia Police
Paul Deneen, JP, MA, BEd Chair, West Mercia Police Authority
Throughout the last five years, West Mercia’s strategic approach – most evident in the emphasis that has been placed upon the 4 Key Principles of Performance Focus, Embracing Diversity, Integrity and Quality People – has led to West Mercia Police widely being recognised as one of the top performing, most efficient and effective police organisations in England and Wales. This reputation is particularly strong in relation to the contribution that West Mercia has made towards overall crime reduction, its performance in investigating all types of crime – from the high volume, day to day events through serious and organised criminality, to homicide and those other major crimes that occur from time to time and cause great concern in our communities, and the general willingness demonstrated at all levels to innovate, problem solve and try new ways of working.
The publication in 2008 of Sir Ronnie Flanagan’s (Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary) Review of Policing, the Government’s Green Paper on the Future of Policing, Louise Casey’s report on “Engaging Communities in Fighting Crime”, and most recently the Policing and Crime Bill have all provided the opportunity for the police service throughout England and Wales to take stock of its current priorities, successes and continuing challenges. At the same time, the Home Secretary has signalled a very welcome shift of Home Office emphasis away from a regime of centrally imposed performance indicators and targets and its associated central government micro-management, towards a single outcome measure of public confidence in local policing services.
All of this has provided us in West Mercia with a timely opportunity to review and refresh our 3 year strategy in order to place a much greater emphasis upon public protection, public satisfaction and public confidence. Last September saw the start of a major consultation process which engaged, amongst others, all senior staff, staff associations, and the Members and Officers of the Police Authority. The outcome of this led us to summarise our Mission over the next 3 years throughout West Mercia to be – quite simply – Serving – Protecting – Making the Difference.
Serving – Protecting – Making the Difference – only 5 words that are very easy to say, but represent a significant challenge for all of us to deliver.
We are both acutely aware that future financial settlements from Central Government will leave little scope for growth in our service capacity and that the next 12 months and beyond will be particularly difficult, locally, nationally and globally, due to the current economic climate. In this context, our obligation to deliver the best value for money policing services that we can has never been more apparent, as we look ahead with the aim of building upon our recent successes.
We believe that our finely balanced workforce mix of police officers, police staff and volunteers, coupled with their outstanding professionalism, commitment and dedication, puts us in an excellent position from which to deliver against our communities’ expectations both in terms of policing services and value for money. At the same time, we aim to maintain appropriate levels of investment in our infrastructure and in equipment and technology, in order to make our staff as effective as possible in tackling crime, anti-social behaviour and other issues of concern in our communities.
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