chris sims

Chancellor clobbers police with another cash cosh

Austerity plans will halt end to West Midlands recruitment freeze

By:
Published December 5, 2012, in Police Commissioners


West Midlands Police may have to find a further £24 million in Government-imposed cuts over the next two years following Chancellor George Osborne’s Autumn Statement.

The figure – a 20 per cent increase on a £126 million cuts package already in place – is likely to put paid to plans by Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Bob Jones to begin recruiting police officers for the first time in four years.

Mr Jones reacted with dismay to Mr Osborne’s announcement in the House of Commons, in which plans were outlined to cut Home Office spending by a further one per cent next year and potentially by two per cent in 2014-15.

Mr Osborne told MPs he would extend his austerity plans until 2017-18. Measures to tackle the country’s debts needed to be done in “a way that is fair”, he insisted.

West Midlands chief constable Chris Sims and the PCC must wait until the fine print of the Chancellor’s statement is released on December 19. Mr Osborne, who is expected to give details of grant settlements for police forces, has been lobbied by the West Midlands force for a “fairer” deal.

Both Mr Sims and Mr Jones have taken the Government to task over a damping mechanism which has the effect of

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‘Stop throwing cash at Surrey and give West Midlands police a fair deal’

PCC Bob Jones says Ministers wrong to favour 'wealthy' south of England

By:
Published November 26, 2012, in Police Commissioners


Police Commissioner Bob Jones is involved in a race against time in an attempt to convince the Government to protect the West Midlands force from further damaging spending cuts.

Mr Jones, who became PCC a fortnight ago, has launched a Fair Funding campaign which seeks to make the case that the West Midlands is delivering substantially more than its share of Chancellor George Osborne’s austerity cuts.

And Mr Jones, a former Labour councillor, made no secret of the fact that his strategy is aimed at “wealthy” areas in the south of England like Surrey, where he believes the police force has been protected from harsh cash cuts at the expense of the West Midlands.

The Government’s formula grant approach to police force funding meant that Surrey, an area of relatively low crime, had been given

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Police Authority bows out and says: ‘We’ve all done very well’

Crime halved since 1995, community relations improved, Chief Constable praises defunct body

By:
Published November 19, 2012, in Police Commissioners


The final West Midlands Police Authority meeting lasted barely an hour and was marked by a defiant self-congratulatory tone among members who praised their efforts in cutting crime and facing up to difficult issues of heightened community tension in Birmingham.

After 17 years in its present form, the Authority is being disbanded to make way for Police and Crime Commissioner Bob Jones who formally moves into the hot seat this Thursday.

Mr Jones, a Labour city councillor in Wolverhampton, was an ordinary member of the public at the final meeting of the Authority he has served on for two decades.

He takes over at a difficult time for West Midlands Police, which has to find £120 million in Government savings.

The force has set out plans to lose 1,850 employees, including 1,060 police officers, 20 police community support officers and 770 civilian staff. However, Mr Jones expects to begin recruiting police officers for the first time in four years during 2013-14.

Asked to say a few words he shook the Chief Constable’s hand and repeated promises to

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Police and the poverty of ambition

Dire crime detection rates must be priority for new commissioner

By:
Published September 28, 2012, in Police Commissioners


I have hesitated to write this for fear of being accused of cynicism, or even worse of letting down ‘Team Birmingham’, but it must be said: the first public meeting featuring candidates for West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner was a quite dreadful affair.

All credit to Birmingham Chamber of Commerce for organising the event, which understandably focused on business crime, but the would-be commissioners hardly set the room alight with passion and conviction. Even insomniacs would have been hard pressed to stay awake.

Indeed, those in the audience undecided about who they will vote for on November 15 may have gone away wondering whether it is worth voting at all.

What we heard were plenty of platitudes about ‘zero tolerance’ of anti-social behaviour and not putting up with vandals who spray graffiti about the streets, while unsurprisingly given the location of the meeting each candidate solemnly promised to put fighting business crime at the top of their agenda.

How this will be achieved against a backdrop of savage cuts in police spending

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Move along now, nothing to see here

Police chiefs and politicians pray that apathy will protect status quo in PCC elections

By:
Published August 19, 2012, in Police Commissioners


With the Olympic Games safely out of the way, I wondered how long it would be before the looming prospect of the first elections for police and crime commissioners would become a topic of debate.

The Electoral Commission duly obliged by publishing a pessimistic forecast that only 18.5 per cent of electors will bother to vote in the PCC polls on November 15.

My gut feeling is that the commission’s forecast is weighted on the high side. If the average turnout was 15 per cent, and considerably lower in some areas, I wouldn’t be surprised.

Of course, all of this is guesswork. The commission arrived at its prediction with a series of assumptions based on

Continues…

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