With Walsall in the middle of tit-for-tat deadly feud and regular outbreaks of violent disorder involving gangs of youths the Chief Constable told the Express & Star they will use all the powers available to them
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00:00In Warsaw, we're also seeing quite a bit of violent disorder, which is why you've got the Section 60 powers.
00:07I just wanted to get your reaction about why that problem's happening, and if you're pleased with the powers that you've got, and if you think it's making a difference.
00:16We always use our Section 60 powers sparingly, and they are used proportionally across the whole of the West Midlands.
00:23So when we get an incident or some very good intelligence around serious violence likely to occur, we'll use those powers on behalf of the public.
00:31And what you have seen is a lot of arrests on the back of the disorder that was seen.
00:37But most importantly, I'm looking forward to bringing more officers into the West Midlands Police as a result of the Neighbourhood Policing Uplift, which government recently have announced.
00:48What that will do is that will enable me as Chief Constable to build back Neighbourhood Policing increasingly in their numbers for officers and PCSOs.
00:58That's a good news story for the people of Warsaw and the people of the West Midlands.
01:03In Wolverhampton, we've seen a recent spate of gun crime, which has brought back some bad memories of historic gun problems in the city.
01:14Is there anything that you've seen in particular why this has happened, or do you think it's just a tit-for-tat feud which has gone out of hand?
01:24Any ideas that you can tell our readers?
01:26So I can't specifically comment on an individual case.
01:30What I can do is to reassure people that after that particular incident, we made a number of arrests and we've charged a number of people on the back of it.
01:39And it's important that we let the court process take its own course.
01:43I tend to find, as Chief Constable, that most incidents of gun crime involve people who are known to each other.
01:50Across the West Midlands, gun crime is reducing.
01:53And across the West Midlands, we have nearly doubled the number of illegally held firearms that we've taken away from circulation.
02:02We invest very heavily in our criminal profiling.