West Midlands Police (WMP) is the second largest Police force in the United Kingdom and responsible for all the West Midlands communities including Coventry, Birmingham, Sandwell, Dudley, Wolverhampton Walsall and Solihull.
West Midlands Police (WMP) covers an area with nearly 2.9 million inhabitants.
The area covered by West Midlands Police is divided into ten Local Policing Units (LPUs). Each LPU is headed by a Chief Superintendent who is responsible for the overall policing and management of the area. Each LPU has a number of dedicated Neighbourhood Policing teams. These cover a specific area and are headed by a sergeant with support from a number of police officers, PCSOs and sometimes special constables.
The 10 LPUs are:
Birmingham West LPU
(Ladywood & Perry Barr),
Birmingham South LPU
(Bournville, Edgbaston, Selly Oak & Northfield),
Birmingham East LPU
(Hodge Hill, Yardley & Hall Green, Alum Rock & Washwood Heath,
Coventry LPU, Dudley LPU, Sandwell LPU, Solihull LPU, Walsall LPU and Wolverhampton LPU.
West Midlands Police Challenge
West Midlands Police (WMP) is currently looking to recruit a total of 2,800 new Police Constables over the next 3 years as part of project uplift, a national project looking to grow all our constabularies across England & Wales.
The West Midlands Police & Crime Commissioner has also pledged that 1000 of these new constables will be from a BAME background. This is a huge task given that WMP had only recruited less than a quarter of this number from 2014 – 2019. In order to achieve 1000 in 3 years the right strategies will need to be implemented.
More challenging for WMP will be the task of trying to build relations with Black and emerging communities with a view to recruiting from them. This is undoubtedly a more long term goal. This has been made more challenging with the Black lives matter protests and the unfortunate death of George Floyd in the USA.
WMP would like to gain an understanding around:
- What some of the barriers may be with certain communities when it comes to the Police and how to break these down.
- How to achieve trust and confidence with BAME communities and maintain this.
- How to successfully promote WMP to these communities and thus attract applicants from within.
There are many opportunities coming up within the organisation, the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth games and 2021 Coventry city of culture. The opportunities are for many staff and voluntary roles as well as Police roles.
WMP has a great opportunity to truly make the organisation representative of the communities we Police.
Objectives, outcomes and impact
- To truly understand the communities we Police, build lasting relationships with those communities that traditionally lack trust and confidence with the Police.
- To successfully recruit a truly representative workforce which will be important, not least for some the major events coming our way such as the commonwealth games 2022 and 2021 Coventry city of culture.
- To understand the best strategies for promoting WMP as a brand to those communities we are looking to engage and encourage applications for various roles.
A truly representative organisation will mean more credibility with our communities which will make policing the public more credible.
Key requirements
- The desire to have honest conversations about some of the wider issues facing communities in the West Midlands region.
- Any discipline/ specialism is welcome. No specific knowledge/ experience is required. Just a desire to influence change.
- Cultural competence of different communities is desirable.
Length and frequency of meetings
Monthly meetings for 1-2 hours over 3 months. Happy to make more frequent dependant on initial impact/progress post first session.
Location can be Police HQ, Lloyd House, Colmore Circus, Tally Ho training college, Edgbaston or any of the University campuses.
Flexible/negotiable.
Join
Deadline date - Sunday 23 January 2022 (23:59).