Power over West Midlands Police shifts to the Mayor

Local TV

Police and Crime Commissioners are being scrapped, with oversight of West Midlands Police expected to move to the Mayor. The government promises savings and extra officers. Former West Midlands officer and policing academic Ronald Winch explains what the changes could mean for accountability, frontline policing and safety in Birmingham, and whether this is genuine reform or a reshuffle on paper.

Transcript

00:00Most people couldn't name their police and crime commissioner even before the role disappeared.

00:06Now it's powers shift to the mayor who already handles transport, housing and regeneration.

00:12Supporters say that puts one figure on the hook. Critics worry policing becomes another

00:17task in a crowded brief. Ronald Winch served in West Midlands Police and now teaches policing

00:23and intelligence. I asked him what this move to mayoral oversight will mean day to day.

00:29I sense that the people of West Midlands won't actually see much difference in the way policing

00:34is delivered locally. I think any changes that will occur will take place at a more strategic

00:40level and we've yet to see how that commissioning money is going to be spent. I sense that that

00:45money, much of it will still be available for different projects but there'll be a change

00:50of style. But at the moment most people don't know who the police and crime commissioner is

00:55anyway. So I sense that people locally won't see much difference.

01:00The government promises large savings and a modest rise in officer numbers. It looks

01:05tidy on paper but West Midlands Police faces heavy workloads, slow investigations and sharp

01:11inspection reports. People here judge at safety by what they see, knife incidents disorder and

01:17cases that stall. So I asked Ronald Winch what this reform means in real terms and whether Birmingham

01:23will notice any change beyond the headlines.

01:27I sense that people will see incremental improvements to policing locally and of course

01:32West Midlands have a good story to tell in relation to the reduction of violent crime and the reduction

01:39of knife crime recently which is you know to be celebrated I think across the West Midlands but

01:45of course one victim is too many and there's still much to do in relation to effective policing in the

01:51West Midlands and how that governance is going to look. Ministers call this an accountability fix yet

01:57the figures troubling people are inspection warnings and offences that never reach charge.

02:03West Midlands Police has been marked down in core areas even as some crime types fall.

02:08It raises a clear question does shifting oversight tackle the problems or just move responsibility?

02:15That police and crime plan and holding the chief constable account will kind of need to probably be

02:19geared up as we say you know when these reforms come in in 2028 but you know a really clear expectation

02:28of how the chief constable delivers and I have to say that it's a characteristic if you look at

02:34Labour governments going back if you look at the Blair government for example that you know it goes

02:40it goes hand in hand that if the government are going to invest additional resources into public services

02:44what they want in return is improved performance and the thing about improved performance is those

02:50things that get measured get done earlier and it's the things that can be measured easily

02:56that form part of that performance management culture.

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