More about this area

The force says...

West Mercia Police is the fourth largest geographic police area in England and Wales covering 7,428 square kilometres within the West Midlands region.

The force covers three counties: Herefordshire, Shropshire (which includes Telford and Wrekin) and Worcestershire with more than 1.2 million people living in the largely rural areas we serve. We also have urban areas and areas of social deprivation among the 10% most deprived areas nationally.

West Mercia has already recruited 186 officers of the 311 due as part of the national Police Uplift Programme. In 2022 we will recruit 125 further officers, taking us to 2,456. This is 6% more than in 2011, when our numbers were at their previous highest.

As across the police service, COVID-19 pandemic restrictions led to changes in crime. The force saw reductions in overall crime but an increased movement of crime online. We saw an 8% reduction in recorded crime in the year to June 2021 to 76,534.

Overall calls for service in 2021 reduced by 7% compared to 2020 across all channels into the force. Calls to 999 increased by 13% while non-emergency demand decreased by 16% compared to 2020 and by 27% compared to 2019. Online crime reporting has increased in 2021 by 52%.

We are proud that in a recent survey of more than 3,000 local people 96% stated that West Mercia Police have their support, with 84% confident that they would receive a good service.

Our new Chief Constable is driving a new strategic plan focused on delivering an excellent service to keep the communities of West Mercia safe by highly skilled and equipped officers, staff and volunteers.

Disclaimer: the above statement has been prepared by West Mercia Police. The views and information in it are not necessarily those of HMICFRS.