Everything about West Midlands Police totally explained
West Midlands Police is the
Home Office police force responsible for policing the
metropolitan county of
West Midlands in
England.
Covering an area with nearly 2.6 million inhabitants, which includes the cities of
Birmingham,
Coventry,
Wolverhampton and also the
Black Country; the force is made up of 8,461 police officers, supported by 4,082 police staff, 802 special constables and 733 police community support officers. This makes it the second largest force in the country behind the
Metropolitan Police and followed narrowly by the
Greater Manchester Police.
West Midlands is a partner, alongside two other forces
Staffordshire Police and
West Mercia Constabulary, in the
Central Motorway Police Group.
History
A force, called the
West Midlands Constabulary was initially created on
April 1,
1966 under the
Police Act 1964, with the re-organisation of the Black Country area as the five contiguous
county boroughs of
Dudley,
Walsall,
Warley,
West Bromwich and
Wolverhampton.
Dudley Borough Police,
Walsall Borough Police and
Wolverhampton Borough Police were incorporated wholly into the new force, and it also took in part of the
Staffordshire Constabulary and
Worcestershire Constabulary.
The force was initially headed by
Chief Constable Norman W. Goodchild until 1967, when he was replaced by
Edwin Solomon.
The force was merged again, on
April 1,
1974, because of the
Local Government Act 1972 which created the new West Midlands metropolitan county, which covered the West Midlands constabulary area along with Birmingham and Coventry and a few other surrounding towns. It amalgamated with the
Birmingham City Police and parts of
Staffordshire County and Stoke-on-Trent Constabulary,
Warwickshire and Coventry Constabulary and
West Mercia Constabulary to form the present force.
Under proposals made by the
Home Secretary on
February 6,
2006, it would merge with
Staffordshire Police,
West Mercia Constabulary and
Warwickshire Constabulary to form a single strategic force for the
West Midlands region.
Because of the prisons' overcrowding crisis in
Birmingham in
October 2006 three dozen police cells are to be made available to house inmates in Birmingham to help ease. (By contrast, one contemporary account reported, in 1833, that for days the city gaol had been entirely empty.)
Despite a dip in the number of prisoners in the same month, prisons in the region are close to capacity or already full. Now between 32 and 44 cells have been set aside at Steelhouse Lane police station, in Birmingham city centre in case of emergency. West Midlands Police has an established agreement with the Prison Service to provide cells in the event they're needed.
Divisions and departments
West Midlands Police is split into 21 operational command units (OCUs). Each OCU is headed by a chief superintendent who is responsible for the overall policing and management of the area. Each OCU is split into a number of sectors - each headed by an inspector.
OCU STATION NAME
- E3 Belgrave Road
- H2 Bloxwich
- E1 Bournville Lane
- F1 Central Birmingham
- M2 Chace Avenue (Coventry)
- J1 Dudley North (Dudley)
- J2 Dudley South (Halesowen)
- E2 Kings Heath
- M1 Little Park Street (Coventry)
- D1 Queens Road (Aston)
- F2 Rose Road (Harborne, Winson Green, Ladywood)
- K1 & K2 Sandwell (West Bromwich and Smethwick)
- L1 Solihull
- D3 Stechford
- M3 Stoney Stanton Road (Coventry)
- D2 Sutton Coldfield
- F3 Thornhill Road (Handsworth)
- H1 Walsall
- G2 Wolverhampton East (Wednesfield)
- G1 Wolverhampton West (Bilston Street)
Further Information
Get more info on 'West Midlands Police'.
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