BROMSGROVE will be getting 25 new police officers based in the district under plans revealed by West Mercia Chief Constable Anthony Bangham.
Currently there are six Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT) officers across the district’s five policing areas – Bromsgrove North and Rural, Bromsgrove South and Rural, Bromsgrove St John’s, Hagley and Rubery and Alvechurch and Wythall.
They are overseen by Sgt Liam Bennett and Insp Dave King, who also covers Redditch.
There are then 16 response officers per shift which are based at Redditch and cover both Bromsgrove and Redditch.
The new response officers – which equates to five per shift – will be in addition to those and be based solely in Bromsgrove.
Insp King said: “It’s a massive boost for us.
“Those extra officers at our disposal means we will have more flexibility when we come to deal with incidents.”
The allocation is part of the 115 new officers promised by West Mercia Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) John Campion in the budget.
In October West Mercia was one of the forces slammed during Channel 4’s hard-hitting Dispatches programme ‘Lawless Britain: Where are the Police?’
It stated 31 per cent of crimes in the force area were logged but not investigated but police bosses, including the Police and Crime Commissioner, vowed to deliver an improved service with more officers.
Supt Damian Pettit, South Worcestershire Commander, said the new officers would bring an increased presence to the community.
The officers would be joining through various pathways, including new recruits or as already serving officers transferring from other forces.
This would determine when they were in post by but it is expected they will all be in their roles by April 2020 at the latest.
Supt Pettit added the extra officers would be beneficial force-wide.
“Our communities and local officers are also supported 24 hours a day by the Local Policing Priorities Team and Operational Policing Units.”
He said those officers enforced the law on roads and within communities, carried out operations and surveillance and provided different specialist skills or resources to solve various issues.
