The West Mercia Environment

West Mercia Police is responsible for policing a diverse region of 2,868 square miles, making it the fourth largest police area in England and Wales. Whilst the area has five large urban areas, namely Worcester, Redditch, Hereford, Shrewsbury and Telford, the region is predominantly rural, with some areas, particularly Herefordshire, deemed ‘sparse’ in population terms.

We operate through five ‘Divisions’ – Herefordshire, North Worcestershire, South Worcestershire, Shrewsbury and Telford & Wrekin. The main headquarters site is based at Hindlip near Worcester.

 West Mercia Police has 47 police stations (Home Office definition*), and uses or occupies a further 102 properties. By the end of March 2010 we aim to have 85% of police stations fully compliant with the Disability Discrimination Act with regard to public accessibility.

KEY FACTS
Area 7,428 square kilometres (2,868 square miles)
Population 1,186,400 (2.3% minority ethnic)
Dwellings 495,000
Roads 13,621 kilometres (8,464 miles)
Net Budget £197.6 million
Miles travelled by police vehicles 11.4 million per year
PERSONNEL
Police Officers 2481
Police Staff 1765
Community Support Officers 283
Special Constables 270
36 (1.5%) police officers are from minority ethnic communities and 681 (27.3%) are women

*A police station is an operational police facility with a public enquiry counter open during the day and should include police offices (ie police house in rural area, which is part police station where the public can call at certain times).

Local Policing Teams

Our 145 Local Policing Teams, first established in 2006, are now firmly embedded throughout West Mercia. Each Team consists of at least one police officer and one community support officer, supported by response officers and other specialist staff. Their key role is to listen to the needs and concerns of people living and working in their area and ensure that communities have a genuine say in identifying issues that are to be addressed as priorities.

Formal consultation takes place through PACT (Partners and Communities Together) events such as meetings, surgeries and surveys, although concerns can be brought to the attention of Local Policing Teams at any time.

Within the Local Policing section of our website you can see:

  • The names, photographs and contact details of the members of your local policing team
  • The latest policing priorities in your area
  • Local crime information
  • Dates and times of PACT meetings
  • Information on how you can get involved

Volunteers

West Mercia Police and the Police Authority are grateful for the continued support from the numerous volunteer schemes that operate throughout the force area. Ranging from the Special Constabulary to Watch schemes (such as Neighbourhood Watch, Business Watch and School Watch) to victim and witness care services (Victim Support and Witness Care Units), all make a valuable and valued contribution to our efforts in ensuring that West Mercia remains a safe area in which to live and work.

We will continue to look for new opportunities to strengthen these relationships and establish new ones in the year ahead.

Building on Outstanding Results

West Mercia is an organisation to be proud of in terms of performance, reputation and, crucially, the quality of our staff:

  • Recorded crime has fallen consistently over recent years. In the year ending March 2008, total recorded crime fell by 2.5% to 80,054 incidents, resulting in 2,041 fewer victims of crime.
Crime volumes 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 Change 2007/08 vs 2005/06
Total Recorded Crime 85,353 82,095 80,054 Down by 6.2%
Domestic Burglary 3,738 3,260 3,654 Down by 2.2%
Violent Crime 17,166 17,510 17,271 Up by 0.6%
Vehicle Crime 9,752 8,865 8,492 Down by 12.9%
Sanction Detection Rate 31.8% 32.5% 29% 3.5 point reduction
  • 90.4% of the 150,575 emergency 999 calls we received in 2007/08 were answered within 10 seconds
  • 94% of the 1,028,667 non-emergency calls we received in 2007/08 were answered within 30 seconds
  • We continue to be one of the leading forces for domestic abuse support and have ensured that a Crimestoppers initiative to encourage third party reporting of domestic abuse becomes a national project. People can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 if they suspect someone they know is being abused
  • Our Legal Services Department gained Lexcel accreditation in August 2008 following assessment by the Law Society
  • Superintendent Jane Horwood received the 2008 British Association of Women in Policing Award for Mentoring and the 2008 Mentoring Award from the International Association of Women Police
  • The Department for Transport, Road Casualties Great Britain 2007 report confirmed that West Mercia is the top performing force within it’s most similar families in delivering reductions against the measures of ‘Killed or Seriously Injured’ casualties

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