page_title: West Midlands Police
section_title: Structure and departments
hierarchical_section_title: West Midlands Police / Structure and departments
caption_attribution_description: English: This terrific photograph shows officers from a number of departments that fall under operational policing. The photo includes officers, firearms officers, the dogs unit, our force helicopter, police motorbikes, traffic officers and more. Includes helicopter G-WMAO
context_page_description: West Midlands Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England.
  Covering an area with nearly 2.9 million inhabitants, which includes the cities of Birmingham, Coventry, Wolverhampton and also the Black Country; the force is made up of 6,495 Police Officers. In 2014 there were 7,162 officers, 611 are from a BAME background, supported by 3,131 Police Staff, 188 Special Constables and 506 Police Community Support Officers – with these 10,884 employees, this makes it the third largest force in England and Wales behind the Metropolitan Police and Greater Manchester Police; and the fifth-largest force in the United Kingdom after Police Scotland and Police Service Northern Ireland.
  The force is currently led by Chief Constable Dave Thompson. The force area is divided into ten Local Policing Units, each being served by four core policing teams – Response, Neighbourhood, Investigation and Community Action & Priority – with the support of a number of specialist crime teams.
caption: Operational departments, 2009
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