Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner Candidate John Campion has expressed dismay over HMIC’s judgement that West Mercia Police “requires improvement”. The judgement has ranked West Mercia in the bottom 5 out of 43 forces in England and Wales.
Mr Campion says, “This damning judgement shows that West Mercia must do more to support its hard working Police Officers and staff, it also says worryingly that Stop and Search powers are not being properly monitored. This all comes as we learn that fewer burglaries result in the prosecution of the offender, response times that are soaring all whilst Council Tax is rising. This is fast building into a picture of a Police Commissioner and Deputy team that are failing in their duties and letting our community down.”
“As Commissioner I would work to effectively hold the Chief Constable to account, to ensure our hard working police officers and staff are effectively supported and that policing powers such as stop and search are properly overseen.”
Full report can be found here https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmic/publications/police-legitimacy-2015-west-mercia/