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<p>The Home Office collects and publishes data on the number of officers primarily
employed in Neighbourhood Policing/Safer Neighbourhood roles by police force area,
as at 31 March each year.</p><p>The number of full time equivalent police officers
in each police force (and specifically in West Midlands Police), primarily employed
in Neighbourhood Policing/Safer Neighbourhood roles, can be found in the data tables
published alongside the annual ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletins.</p><p>Data
as at 31 March 2017 can be found in Table F1 of the accompanying tables of the police
workforce statistics, published on 20 July 2017, here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-workforce-england-and-wales-31-march-2017"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-workforce-england-and-wales-31-march-2017</a></p><p>Previous
data were collected under a different framework, with different definitions. Therefore,
data prior to 31 March 2015 are not directly comparable with later years. Although
some functions may appear to be similar between the two, there are often differences
in definitions, and so any attempts to compare across the two frameworks should be
done with caution. Data under the old framework have been published since 2012, and
can be found in the supplementary data tables of the relevant police workforce publications
via the following link: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales</a></p><p>Officers
with multiple responsibilities or designations are recorded under their primary function.
The data do not therefore provide a complete picture of all officers assigned to neighbourhood
policing functions. A more reliable measure is the number of officers employed in
‘Local policing’ roles, which includes both neighbourhood and response functions.
This measure is available for 2015, 2016 and 2017, but not for previous years where
a different framework was used.</p><p>Any comparisons at force level should be made
with care due to collaboration arrangements between forces for particular functions.
Additionally, police functions data are often affected by re-structuring within police
forces. Therefore comparisons over time for specific functions should be made with
care.</p><p>Decisions on duties and deployments are matters for Chief Constables and
the directly accountable Police and Crime Commissioners for each local area.</p><p>The
Government believes in local policing, accountable to local communities. That is why
we abolished all central Government targets and put local people in charge by introducing
directly elected police and crime commissioners.</p><p>Police and Crime Commissioners,
the elected mayors in London and Manchester and local forces are transforming the
way in which they deploy operational resources to meet local circumstances and priorities
and adapt to the changing crime threat. The distinction between Neighbourhoods and
response teams is no longer clear cut as forces transform the way in which they deploy
operational resources and evolve roles to meet local circumstances and priorities,
and adapt to the changing crime threat.</p><p>The freedom to exercise discretion and
flexibility has resulted in a range of local policing approaches. At least 33 forces
have introduced significant changes, including merging neighbourhoods and response
functions; or, for example, in Durham where safeguarding teams have been bought together
with Neighbourhoods teams.</p>
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