Communities to Help Shape Local Policing in West Mercia

Thousands of people across West Mercia will help shape local policing services in the coming years as part of a new joint project from the Police & Crime Commissioner, and West Mercia Police.

Members of local communities are being interviewed and asked their thoughts on police visibility, accessibility and integrity. Quarterly results will be published for each local policing area.

Those results will give the Police a reliable evidence base to understand where communities feel well connected to the force and have high levels of confidence, and where improvements are needed. They will also give the Police and Crime Commissioner a more evidential basis for holding the Chief Constable to account to ensure any necessary improvements are made and that best practice lessons are learned.

John Campion said: “I promised I would ensure West Mercia not only is safe, but feels safe. This project is key to delivering on that commitment by giving our communities a strong voice and ensuring they are truly represented in ways that they have not been up to now. I will ensure their voice is heard and the force responds positively to that community feedback.”

“We know that public confidence in the West Mercia force has grown in the last year and that is to be welcomed, but I want to make sure we build on that success and make further improvements in the years ahead.”

West Mercia Police’s Deputy Chief Constable Amanda Blakeman said: “Having the public’s confidence in the policing service they receive is extremely important for both police and local communities. The more the public feel confident in our service, the greater their trust in police will be and the safer they will feel. For us as a force, greater confidence means people are more likely to come forward to report crimes, provide information, or simply just obey the law. This project will help the force understand public confidence at a more local level and the factors that affect it. We can then be more pro-active in delivering the things that will improve it, and respond effectively to the things that damage it.”