In the latest PEEL Effectiveness report, West Midlands Police has been assessed as 'good' overall by Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary (HMIC). 

The report, which rates every police force in the country, says West Midlands Police is good at preventing crime, tackling anti-social behaviour and keeping people safe.

The force was also assessed as good at investigating crime and reducing re-offending, with inspectors praising the new crime recording process which ensures victims are regularly updated.

The report says improvement is required in investigating offences involving vulnerable victims and working with other public service organisations to keep people safe. It recommends better risk assessment of domestic abuse victims and missing children.

The force is good at tackling serious and organised crime, with HMIC saying there is a variety of effective projects in place to deter people from becoming involved.

HMIC acknowledges that the force has effective specialist capabilities and is well prepared to respond to an attack which requires an armed response and has thoroughly assessed the threat of a terrorist attack.

Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson said: "I welcome this report showing that West Midlands Police is effective at keeping people safe, preventing and reducing crime. 

"I recognise that there are improvements that need to be made to safeguarding and will work the force bring them about."

Deputy Chief Constable Louisa Rolfe added: "We continue to strive to reduce crime and ensure our communities are safe places for the residents and visitors of the West Midlands force area.

"We are pleased with the outcome of the report and that HMIC recognises the work we are doing.

"We acknowledge that improvements still need to be made in protecting vulnerable members of our society and we are continuing to invest in our Public Protection Unit, which has significantly increased in size in recent years and continues to do so.

"A team dedicated to finding missing people has been introduced in the past year aimed at reducing the time and resources required to return missing people to safety and providing support to prevent them from being absent again in the future."

The office of the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner is welcoming work experience students through its doors.

A number of young people are finding out what life is like working for the PCC and learning about all things policing.

The first students were Nina Lelidou, aged 16, and Thasniya Parvin, 17, who spent time with all departments within the office - from the communications team to the victims experts, PCC and everyone in between.

At the end of their week, the students wrote about their experiences.

Thasniya wrote: "I have really enjoyed working at the Police and Crime Commissioner's office this week. I have learned many things in the space of five days, from using the diary planner to learning about crime rates and the PCC's involvement in counter-terrorism.

"One thing I enjoyed most was attending a meeting with the Commissioner at West Bromwich Police Station as I learned a lot about how money which is taken from crimes is used to benefit the community. I found this very interesting as I did not know what the money was used for."

Nina added: "Working with the Police and Crime Commissioner as part of my work experience has been a great opportunity. 

"The PCC staff were very friendly and welcoming, as well as helpful and informative.

"During my work experience week, I became more willing and determined to develop different qualities, such as my communication skills, even further as it will be useful for the career I would like to pursue in the future."

March 8th was International Women’s Day and the theme this year was Be Bold For Change, calling on people to help forge a more equal working world.

West Midlands Police has always been a pioneer when it comes to women’s rights and I am proud of its strong and spirited history.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the force’s first female officers and, today, there are more than 2,000, including Deputy Chief Constable Louisa Rolfe, Assistant Chief Constable Michele Larmour and scores of Commanders and unit heads.

The office of the PCC is also dedicated to inclusion and equality and 67 per cent of our staff are female. I am also extremely proud of the hard work being carried out by the office in fields that disproportionally affect women, including domestic violence, coercive control and honour-based violence.

International Women’s Day is a great opportunity to take stock of where we’ve been, where we’re going and what we need to do to Be Bold For Change in the future.