Introduction

This Policing Plan sets out the proposed arrangements for policing in West Mercia for 2010-2013 and gives particular emphasis to the objectives for the forthcoming year in the local authority areas of Herefordshire, Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and Worcestershire. It is a shared plan, prepared by West Mercia Police and West Mercia Police Authority.

Our Mission: Serving - Protecting - Making the Difference.

In support of this Mission, our Policing Plan sets out the personal values that we all subscribe to as members of West Mercia Police, describes the outcomes that we expect to see in the years ahead, and lays out our broad strategic aims for the next 3 years together with a range of specific priorities for the next 12 months.  It also identifies the relatively small set of measures that we will use to track progress in delivering both our intended outcomes and the commitments that we have made to our public through the West Mercia Service Standards.

Confidence And Satisfaction

Improving both the public's confidence in us and their satisfaction with the service we provide remains a key outcome for the force during 2010/11.  Increased levels of confidence and satisfaction will improve the quality of life for the people of West Mercia and will increase the levels of support we receive from them. This support makes our work easier and more effective.

Whilst recent results show that we are making good progress we want to raise these levels even further.

• 52.1% of people think the police in their area are doing a good or excellent job (British Crime Survey)
• satisfaction with overall service provided by the police - 85% (West Mercia user satisfaction surveys)
• Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) awarded us an overall "good" grading in the delivery of our Policing Pledge.

Research has shown that the four main drivers in increasing people's confidence in policing are: visible police presence, consulting and engaging with people to understand local needs, problem solving to address those needs and communication.  Listed below are just some examples of what we are doing to further improve the public's confidence in us and their satisfaction with our service:

• Freeing up frontline officers' time to allow them to spend more time out on patrol.
• Identifying and responding to local needs and communicating what we are doing to address those needs through Partners and Communities Together (PACT) meetings and Policing Matters Groups
• Developing new and simpler ways of working, such as community resolution (where the victim of a minor crime can have a say in how the crime can be resolved) and a  diary car (a dedicated resource for visiting victims of crime through an appointment system)
• Selecting performance targets that focus on the most serious crimes and on improving confidence and satisfaction.

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