Police blame poor detection rates on force restructure
West Midlands Police detection rates have plummeted since the force underwent a radical restructure, it has emerged.
Only one in 20 crimes are being solved and the force has fallen short of hitting all detection rate targets.
In vehicle crime, little more than four offences out of every 100 were solved by officers, while only 6.5 per cent of break-ins were detected in April and May.
The collapse in crime detections was blamed on the radical restructure the force underwent in April, known as Programme Paragon, and privately police had hoped to be given more time for the changes to bed in before being judged on performance.
The force has successfully continued to cut crime with overall levels down almost 15 per cent in the 12 months to the end of May.
But a performance report, that outlined detection rates and was discussed by members of the ruling Police Authority’s Protective Service’s Committee, showed:
l Of the 5,461 recorded vehicle crime offences only 240, or 4.4 per cent, were detected.
l Only 232, or 6.5 per cent, of the 3,573 recorded burglary offences were solved.
l Of the 1,665 recorded robberies only 213, or 12.8 per cent, were detected.
l Fewer than one in three of serious violence offences was detected against a target of 50 per cent.
That compares poorly to figures for 2009/10 which showed 30 per cent of crime was detected with a 40 per cent detection rate in violent crime, 12 per cent in burglary, nine per cent on vehicle crime and 21 per cent in robbery.
A force spokesman refused to comment on the figures.
The report by Chief Constable Chris Sims, stated: “No detection rate targets are being achieved year to date. However there were improvements in May compared to April. The systems and process changes as a result of Paragon have contributed to this and the rate should improve with time.”
Andy Gilbert, chairman of West Midlands branch of the Police Federation which represents rank and file officers, said the force needed to look at boosting the number of response officers and detectives following the restructure.
“Frontline troops are still committed to giving top service to the public,” he said. “Following the restructure, there have been one or two internal efficiencies and we need to ensure they are sorted out. The Command Team have been responsive to the issues and are trying to put them right.
“Research has shown response policing is the engine room for performance. This is solvable and the force has been responsive to our concerns.”
West Midlands Police Authority has already expressed concern over detection rates and challenged senior officers over how they were tackling the issue.
Authority chairman Derek Webley said: “The public place a lot of emphasis on detection rates because it is what the police does. There is a link between public confidence and detection rates, you can’t divorce that away from trust and confidence.
“With Paragon and the issues around that, there are some choppy waters and that needs to settle. They [senior officers] are addressing the concerns in the best way possible. The authority needs to be keeping a close eye on that. We still need to ensure policing in the West Midlands is done to the highest standards.”
Under the force shake-up, the structure of 21 separate command units was scrapped and replaced with ten local policing units focused on dealing with issues of concern to the public.
The local CID units were replaced with a force-wide investigative department which is currently dealing with more than 2,500 crimes including at least ten murders, eight attempted murders and almost 600 woundings.
Mr Sims also replaced the number-crunching culture with the ‘Single Confidence Measure’, favoured as a better measure of the public’s view of policing. It showed more than eight out of ten people are happy with the police service.
