Protective Services
In 2005 Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) report, “Closing the Gap” highlighted that protective services needed to be strengthened in capability and capacity by the majority of police forces. Protective Services include the police response to counter terrorism and extremism, serious organised and cross border crime, civil contingencies and emergency planning, critical incident management, major crime, public order, strategic roads policing and protecting vulnerable people.
In late 2007, West Mercia assessed its protective services against and within a national HMIC stocktake. As a result of this we have created a three-year plan to further develop and improve our capacity and capability to deliver protective services. This plan has also taken into account the HMIC baseline inspection of protective services, the regional stocktake, the recent HMIC Protective Services Review Thematic Report and has been influenced by our own internal reviews conducted in 2007 into the areas of crime management and also major crime.
By adopting a strategy of reallocating existing resources to meet demand, we will be able to make any necessary improvements in high need areas. In light of this we are expanding our tactical intelligence capacity to provide 24-hour cover and support to officers.
The Force “stocktake” has informed regional meetings of Chief Constables and Chairs to Police Authorities in identifying and agreeing a collective approach to shared services where there is clear benefit to doing so in adding additional capacity and capability to our protective services
A corporate programme is being developed to take forward the work within this plan, identify the resources required and provide detail on how the plan will be delivered. The plan will continue to be reviewed and refreshed on a quarterly basis.
The Regional Protective Services Group’s objectives are to meet with partner agencies to provide strategic direction for protective services collaboration across the region and to identify further collaborative opportunities where these will reduce risk and add value. Various formal and informal networks are now developing across the region to enhance protective services collaboration in areas such as:
- Firearms
- Police Search
- Crimes in Action
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