When I joined 27 years ago, I had no family link to policing but like so many people I have met along the way I was attracted to α career in policing as it looked exciting, there was variety and I wanted to make α positive difference to people’s lives.  As I have grown (much!) older, and I hope (a little) wiser, my core values have remained unchanged; a strong desire to protect vulnerable people, bringing a focus on intervention and to deliver through the talented teams I have the privilege of leading.

Our organisation is full of really talented people who care deeply about the public that we serve. This makes me really ambitious in terms of what we can achieve.

As you’d imagine, I have been considering what the forces ambition plan means to me and how through my portfolio areas I can deliver on my objectives, and the ones where I am working with fellow FET members.

My portfolio consists of Response, Force Contact, CMPG and Operations covering many important areas of delivery within our Force...

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I’m going to talk about two key aspects of my development plan for 2018-19 and I hope you will be able to see there is an operational focus to what I’m trying to achieve. I’ve tried not to just consider a year’s worth of activity but to try and embed some practices that will take us beyond this period.

Assistant Chief Constable Gareth Cann

2017 was an incredibly difficult year for the CT network; five terror attacks left behind numerous victims of these appalling crimes. It is with this in mind that I am asking officers and staff who work in my departments to do two things; to aim to be the best and to prepare for the worst. These objectives have been set for my departments but I think they are relevant for all of us.

Firstly, if I take aiming to be the best. This is about learning lessons from incidents and operations not only in the West Midlands but nationally and internationally where appropriate; making sure we learn from the experience of others and build best practice into our policies and processes...

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2018/19 will be a significant year for Commercial Services. My team are leading, delivering or supporting lots of large WMP2020 projects as well as maintaining their commitment to business as usual.

WMP can only continue to operate effectively and efficiently if my team make sure all of our ‘assets’ are to the right standard, in the right place at the right time. Assets are our physical resources, be that vehicles, budget, equipment, buildings, systems, etc. That’s what my team do.

Neil Chamberlain, Director of Commercial Services.

The force is making a lot of changes at a fast pace which is both challenging and exciting. I recognise that at times over the last few months the high standards I expect from my services have not always been met and we may have let you down. That’s why for this year the focus is simple. We will get the basics right and we will support the force in driving improvement.

We’ll be supporting the continuing rollout of mobility devices, Taser and body...

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My uncle was in the Isle of Man Police and about 25 years ago I spent some time with him that made me realise I wanted to join too. If I honestly reflect on why I wanted to join it was about having an adventure underlined with a purpose – making a difference.  I was at Birmingham University and the idea of being paid to catch a burglar felt like an incredible opportunity.  Sometimes through our careers that purpose can get lost in the business and politics of policing. We can spend time on stuff that we think won’t benefit anyone and sometimes we look at what goes on and wonder whether anything will change.  I am a Temp ACC so I came into this team not entirely sure what ACC’s do.  However when I reflect on my PDR objectives they are the reasons why I joined WMP a long time ago:

ACC Alex Murray

1. Detect more crime – with an initial focus on improvements in burglary, vehicle crime and robbery.

Our detection rates for these need to improve – it is...

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Reaching 15 months in my new role is a great opportunity to look back on what’s been achieved and what’s to come next. I’m very proud to work for WMP and to have the opportunity to create and lead a new function – People & Organisation Development – POD! –  although I realise not everyone knows what POD is and what we’re here to do.

Ali Layne-Smith, Director of POD

POD was created in 2017 by pulling the parts of the organisation that focused on our people into one place. That includes Operational Learning, what was Corporate HR including the HR Advisors (who were known as LMAs – Line Manager Advisors), Occupational Health, Workforce Planning and Shared Services. POD also includes some departments that are new to the force such as Performance and Development, Diversity and Inclusion, Reward, Wellbeing, and Resourcing.

There are about 425 people in POD and our purpose is to deliver the People Deal and Leadership Promise the Chief created when he became Chief Constable. ...

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My first year in WMP has flown by. I wanted to be part of a force with an ethos of intervention and prevention. Joining WMP has exceeded my expectation. I’ve seen a strong commitment to our communities across the force.

ACC Sarah Boycott

It was a busy and eventful year to say the least. Things are now settling down and there’s great work in Neighbourhood Policing to build on and develop and programmes of work such as DDI (Data Driven Insight), Connect and Fairness in Policing, which will transform the way we operate and relate to our communities. You will see in my PDR objectives an emphasis on preventing people becoming a victim or offender, making places safer for our communities and working with communities to build their confidence in what we do.

We are seizing opportunities to intervene and prevent offending and reduce repeat victims across all areas of policing. I’m looking forward to doing more this year, to tackle the demand and locations that keep...

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I’ve never been keen on the word Ambition, always associating it with striving to succeed at all costs.  I don’t consider myself as particularly ambitious, which I know is a little odd as a deputy chief constable. I’ve never had my career mapped out and always loved the job I’m in at the time, rarely looking beyond wanting to do my best right here and now. I remember being told I needed a career plan – I avoided that task so long I got there despite one.  However, over the years I’ve grown to know it’s not good for me to be too comfortable.  I’m at my best when I’m stretched, challenged to achieve and out of my comfort zone.

Part of my job in WMP is to write our Ambition Plan.  I know our organisation and our people are at their best when stretched, challenged and not too comfortable, so our plan is unashamedly ambitious.  We may not achieve it all but we’ll give it our best shot.  As this is my second year of planning here, I’ve learnt a lot from what worked well last time.  I heard...

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After the first month of this financial year there are lots of reasons to look forward this year!

In January we entered what is my third year as chief. If the first year was laying foundations with new vision, values and a new structure for the force then last year was stabilising and getting back on track. This year is about making big progressive strides.

What makes me so energised?

Firstly, persistent problems are starting to see progress. At times last year it seemed we were juggling challenges with answering our calls, getting to calls, gun crime and a rise in acquisitive crime. Dealing with the here and now challenges was distracting us from a more innovative preventative agenda. We have made progress!

Call handling is good. Our 999 service has the lowest rate of abandoned calls since at least 2014 with an average answer time now of six seconds. 101 is seeing average answer times of around two minutes. That is higher than in the past but today we are dealing with more calls there and then on the call. Around 70% of calls are dealt with...

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As you have been watching the television in the last few days I hope your excitement has been building for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022!

Last week I joined four of our staff, as part of a wider Birmingham and UK Government group, on the Gold Coast to begin the process of understanding the requirements of the Games and to begin our own planning.

Before we talk about what we have learned let’s get the obvious questions out of the way. The overall cost of sending myself and staff out was around £13k. The force will receive a budget to pay for Games delivery and we intend to draw down funds for this. I lost four working days as a result of the visit. I flew economy. We attended as part of planned programmes put on by the Games Federation and Queensland Police for nations hosting major games. Yes, there is lots of learning in the UK from Glasgow and London and my own experiences from Manchester which we are using. However the threat picture evolves and it’s vital we and partners are absorbing the learning of a live event as you see it warts and...

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This week there have been two areas I would like to update you on.

Estates

Sutton Coldfield Police Station

There has been a lot of coverage around police buildings in the last few weeks. Understandably at a time when the public are feeling concerned over crime, people are sensitive about policing changes. I also know lots of you are wondering what these changes means for your work. Let me restate the position and hopefully offer some reassurance.

We have set out our future strategy for the force’s buildings. It is driven by three main issues.

The need for buildings that suit modern policing. The force is and will be investing heavily in technology which will create an ever more mobile organisation. The custody redesign has shown big sites are better than smaller buildings so we need to carry this direction on. We have a Commonwealth Games to police in four years and our command and control site is in need of development. What we have isn’t suited for the future.

The second issue is cost. Some of our buildings are...

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