More custody cells are being opened to increase the availability at key locations across the West Midlands, as the new policing model enters its second month and more people are arrested.
Cells at Bloxwich and Stechford were re-opened on Tuesday 2 May to add to the existing sites of Perry Ball, Oldbury, Coventry and Wolverhampton open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The number of cells remains the same but they are spread across the force giving more prisoner handling capability.
The sites were closed during an estates review in 2015 to help the force save money.
Reopening the sites has been achieved at a minimal cost with only some minor painting work needed. Custody staff have been trained and given more skills to become omnicompetent and further savings have been made as former custody staff weren’t replaced as they left.
With more officers spending time in local communities addressing the issues that matter most to local people it was important to give them local custody sites to cut down on travel time and increase efficiency. It also means people spend less time in custody and enables us to update victims sooner.
The operating model, introduced in April, enables local commanders in each of the areas across the force to address and respond to local needs. This includes response and investigation teams based at the same local police hubs as neighbourhood officers, meaning they can work more closely together.
Chief Constable Craig Guildford said: “This is the latest phase of changing the way we work to better serve local people. We have more officers working locally in our communities and instead of them having to travel several miles to a custody block when they have arrested someone they are now able to be much closer to a facility.
“This not only cuts down on their travel time, but is more efficient, giving them more time to get back out on the streets.
“This has come at minimal cost to the taxpayer and it helps spread capacity across all of the available facilities across the force and not creating a bottleneck at some sites.”
Since December 2022, we have seen arrest rates increase by 25 per cent with 1,000 people detained compared with 800 between December 2021 to April 2022.
Mr Guildford continued: “We are arresting more people for the crimes that matter most to local people. Our work continues to implement all elements of the operating model over the coming months.”