West Midlands Police

His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary (HMI): Lee Freeman is temporary HMI for West Midlands.

This force is in the Wales and Western HMICFRS policing region.

Performance
News
Publications
Key Facts
About the force

HMICFRS’s assessment of West Midlands Police

Our PEEL (police effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy), and other force assessments give you information about how your local police force has performed in several important areas.

In our latest assessments of West Midlands Police, we made the following judgments:

Adequate	Requires improvement	Inadequate
Police powers and treating the public fairly and respectfully	Responding to the public	Investigating crime
Preventing and deterring crime and antisocial behaviour, and reducing vulnerability	Building, supporting and protecting the workforce	Protecting vulnerable people
Tackling serious and organised crime	Leadership and force management	Managing offenders and suspects

Read our other reports for West Midlands Police

Report on an inspection visit to police custody suites in West Midlands – August 2023

Key facts – 2019/20

Force Area

348 square miles

Population

2.94m people

8% local 10 yr change

Workforce

94% frontline police officers

92% national level

3.90 per 1000 population

3.69 national level

5% 10yr change in local workforce

5% 10yr national change

Victim-based crimes

0.08 per person

0.06 national level

35% Local 5 year trend

9% National 5 year trend

Cost

58p per person per day local

59p per person per day national

About the force

West Midlands Police provides policing services to the metropolitan area of the West Midlands. The police force area covers 348 square miles in the centre of England.

There are areas of deprivation and affluence in the West Midlands.

Around 2.8 million people live in a predominantly urban setting. The force covers the West Midlands conurbation, including the cities of Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Coventry and large surrounding townships. The resident population is ethnically very diverse, with 30 percent from black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, and is increased by a large number of university students and the large numbers who visit, socialise in, commute into, or travel through the area each year.

The transport infrastructure includes major rail stations and a major airport.

More about this area – What West Midlands Police says

Connect with West Midlands Police

West Midlands Police website

West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner’s website