West Midlands Police

West Midlands Police
West Midlands Police
	Logo
Abbreviation	WMP
Agency overview
Formed	1 April 1974
Preceding agencies	Birmingham City Police; West Midlands Constabulary; Parts of Staffordshire County and Stoke-on-Trent Constabulary, Warwickshire and Coventry Constabulary and West Mercia Constabulary;
Annual budget	£655.6 million (2021/22)
Legal personality	Police force
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdiction	West Midlands, United Kingdom
	Jurisdictional area shown within England
Size	348 square miles (900 km2)
Population	2.93 million
Legal jurisdiction	England & Wales
Constituting instrument	Police Act 1996;
General nature	Local civilian police;
Operational structure
Overseen by	His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services; Independent Office for Police Conduct;
Headquarters	Birmingham; 52°29′01″N 1°53′50″W / 52.48361°N 1.89722°W
Constables	6,846 police officers; 219 special constables;
PCSOs	484
Police and Crime Commissioner responsible	Simon Foster;
Agency executive	Craig Guildford, Chief Constable;
Parent agency	Home Office
Local Policing Area’s	8
Facilities
Stations	52
Website
	www.westmidlands.police.uk

West Midlands Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England.

The force covers an area of 348 square miles (900 km²) with 2.93 million inhabitants, which includes the cities of Birmingham, Coventry, Wolverhampton and also the Black Country. In 2020, there were 6,846 officers, 484 police community support officers (PCSO), and 219 volunteer special constables.

The force is led by Chief Constable Craig Guildford. The force area is divided into ten Local Policing Areas (LPAs), each being served by four core policing teams – Response, Neighbourhood, CID and Priority Crime (PCT) – with the support of a number of specialist crime teams. These specialist teams include MCU, traffic and a firearms unit.

West Midlands Police was a partner, alongside Staffordshire Police, in the Central Motorway Police Group which was recently disbanded and the officers returned to their respective forces. The force is party to a number of other resource sharing agreements including the National Police Air Service.