WEST Mercia Police's response to serious and organised crime has been found to be inadequate. 

The rating was given by His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) following an inspection in 2023.

As a result, West Mercia Police has created an improvement plan to set out and deliver the reports recommendations. 

John Campion, newly re-elected West Mercia police and crime commissioner, said: "Organised crime groups operating across West Mercia routinely target the most vulnerable people in our society.

"The impact of this crime is devastating and is felt not only by victims, but also entire communities.

“Whilst the rating is not reflective of the brilliant work officers are doing day-in-day-out pursuing criminals, more needs to be done by building stronger partnerships to prevent serious organised crime from happening in the first place.

“I am clear, the verdict of the HMICFRS report into West Mercia Police’s response to address this crime is deeply disappointing and not what I or the public expect."

Serious organised crime relates to offences such as drug trafficking and supply, cybercrime and robbery.

The report identified improvement areas including working with partners, use of analytics and the need to enhance the wider workforce's understanding of tackling serious and organised crime.

Temporary chief constable of West Mercia Police, Alex Murray said: "Whilst I am, of course, disappointed with the grading given, I accept that there are more improvements we need to make in the way we tackle serious organised crime.

"The inspection was a review of our work in 2022 and the beginning of 2023 and we’ve already made some significant changes.

“We are dedicated to disrupting and dismantling organised crime groups; in the past year we’ve arrested 484 people and seized drugs with an estimated street value of almost £1million and almost £300,000 worth of cash.

"167 weapons have been taken off our streets and 164 people have been safeguarded. 

“It was good to see that our specialist resources and the way we are able to assess threats were highlighted as working well.

"We are committed to delivering the recommendations in the report and we will further improve the work we are doing to protect those being exploited, ensure offenders are brought to justice and that we are working effectively with partners to prevent crimes and keep the areas served by West Mercia Police safe.”