West Midlands Police chief admits to being 'greatly concerned' by rise in number of robberies

Dave Thompson has revealed the current number of robberies being committed is higher than expected at this time of year and warned: "There is a clear risk to the public."

His comments at a meeting today come as the force admitted it only has finite number of resources to deal with certain crimes – including robberies.

A report on serious acquisitive crime (SAC) – namely vehicle crime, robberies and burglaries – authored by Detective Superintendent Maria Fox and Assistant Chief Constable Susan Southern said: "Whilst the force is committed to preventing and detecting SAC, the level and complexity of demand has grown and there are a finite number of resources to respond to SAC alongside crimes such as modern slavery, county lines and homicide."

According to the report, burglaries, robberies and theft of vehicles all increased between 2017 and 2018, while theft from vehicles decreased.

Mr Thompson said his force had done some positive work around burglaries and he was now seeing lower levels of the crime being committed at the start of 2019.

However he said the number of robberies being committed "concerns me greatly".

He told the Express & Star: "What is happening with the robberies is we're seeing more violence being used by young people and on some occasions the returns are very high. For example if you are sat in your £60,000 car and I want to take that, there's a lot of value in that for me.

"Some of the force being used is intended to overwhelm people early on but my concern is that is putting members of the public at risk. Robbery is not just about vehicles but the violence we see being used in stabbings and knife crime is projected in some of the vehicle crime. We have seen some quite worrying uses of violence."

Car crime continues to be a serious issue for the force, with Mr Thompson revealing it is one of West Midlands Police's biggest challenges alongside knife crime.

West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson said he has asked Mr Thompson to make serious acquisitive crime "an operational priority", but also called for more funding from government.

He said: "We are prioritising serious acquisitive crime and taking robust action. I have asked the Chief Constable to make it an operational priority, and more than a thousands of arrests have followed and £5 million worth of vehicles have been recovered.

"However it is clear that the police are increasingly being expected to do more without the funding to match. West Midlands Police has lost £175 million since 2010 and officer numbers have fallen by over 2,000 as a result. This will continue to be a priority for myself and West Midlands Police, but it must be acknowledged that our ability to tackle it would be helped by further funding from government."