Warwickshire Police invests in a new policing model to improve services for the public

Warwickshire Police now has the largest number of officers in its more-than-160-year history, enabling the force to implement a new model of policing for Warwickshire from April 2023. 

The force is using its recent increase in officer numbers to increase resources focused on crime prevention and protecting people from harm, to enhance its capacity for community engagement and resolution of community issues, and to improve services for victims.

This accompanies investment in information technology to ensure the force uses innovative new technological capacity and capability to serve the public as effectively and efficiently as it can.

Local Policing

The new operating model will introduce three geographical command centres in the North, South and East of the county, bringing together key areas of policing that are best delivered locally.

Each area will have a dedicated Chief Inspector, supported by a team of Inspectors overseeing a range of local policing teams. The new geographic approach, along with the uplift in officers, will lead to improved engagement with local communities and greater accountability for local priorities.

New Resolution Centres will be introduced at front office locations in Leamington, Nuneaton, Rugby and Stratford-Upon-Avon. The centres will deal with in-person enquiries and telephone investigations, as well as providing front-counter services, and will be open seven days a week to meet local community needs.

Under the new model, each geographical command centre will have a dedicated Patrol Investigations Unit, with responsibility for investigating many of the crimes that do not meet the threshold for CID investigation but still negatively impact people’s lives.  The new teams will be separate from patrol to ensure they have capacity to investigate offences such as assaults, burglaries and medium risk domestic abuse, increasing the overall number of offences that the force detects, and improving satisfaction rates amongst victims.

Prevention and protection

There will be a new Prevention Hub with a focus on stopping crime before it happens. The new hub will include a range of skilled practitioners including Crime Prevention Officers, Design out Crime officers, a Youth Engagement team and Civil Orders officers.

Recognising the very specific skills required to understand and investigate high risk crime such as domestic abuse, rape and serious sexual offences, human trafficking, online child sexual exploitation and digital media, the force is investing in its intelligence hub and creating new dedicated teams of specialist detectives focused on these areas. This will improve its ability to deliver first class investigations, safeguard victims and ensure offenders are brought to justice.

To strengthen its approach to offender management, the force is investing in offender management, and increasing the number of trained officers in the Registered Sex Offender Manager Unit.

And it is investing in state-of-the-art technology to improve road safety, such as new mobile camera capabilities, additional road safety schemes, resources and new processes to enhance road safety and make Warwickshire’s roads safer for everyone.

Training requirements mean that Warwickshire won’t see the full impact of additional officer numbers overnight, but the new operating model reflects the effective strategic planning and positive inclusive culture in place to deliver long-term improvements in policing for local communities.

Chief Constable Debbie Tedds said: “Our new officers come with a variety of backgrounds, cultures, and in some cases, previous professional experience, as we continue to build a diverse workforce that reflects the communities we serve. They are an absolutely vital addition to the force, bringing new insight, experience and expertise.

“Building trust and confidence with our local communities is one of our key priorities. Warwickshire Police is here to protect people from harm, preventing crime, ensuring we are accessible and visible to our communities and provide high quality investigations. These organisational changes enable us to protect communities in an informed, robust and sustainable way. We are committed to providing consistent, high-quality local policing services and we want our communities and workforce to have trust and confidence in what we do.”

ENDS

Notes to editors

At the end of March 2023, there were 1,113 officers in force, up from around 800 in 2016.

Since September 2019, police forces across England and Wales have been embarking on a recruitment programme as part of the Government’s pledge to put 20,000 additional officers on the streets. Known as the ‘uplift’ programme, forces across the country were given national targets to be achieved by March this year. Warwickshire has now exceeded the target set for the county by 10% thanks to this programme and additional funding from the local Council Tax police precept.