WMP Geographical boundaries (120A 24)
Request
I am writing to request information regarding the organisation of local policing and the local response to crime and disorder.
I am interested in the unit of organisation commonly referred to as Local Policing Areas, Divisions, Districts or Basic Command Units. They are typically aligned to local authority or community safety partnership boundaries.
For each of these areas within your force, I would like to know:
Q1- the name of the area, any corresponding ONS geographical code (these are typically a 9-digit string comprising the letter E followed by 8 numerical characters), and any short string code used by the force as shorthand to represent the geography.
Q2- the first and last name and rank of the current senior officer responsible (often known as the ‘local commander’ or similar) for the policing of that area, the date they were appointed, and an email address for the individual or position.
Q3- the first and last name and rank of the last two senior officers in that post, and the dates they were in the roles
Q4- if no ONS code is provided: a description of the geographic extent of the area and the boundaries to which it is aligned (this might be one or more local authorities, or community safety partnerships, or similar)
Q5- Further, for each of the above areas a list of the smaller geographic areas that your force uses to organise and deliver local policing (these might commonly be called ‘neighbourhoods’ and will typically either be an individual ward or a collection of wards), including:
– the name of the area, any corresponding ONS geographical code, any short string code used by the force as shorthand to represent the geography
– if no ONS code is provided: a description of the geographic extent of the area and the boundaries to which it is aligned (this might be an individual ward or a collection of wards).
I consider this information to be of substantial public interest and utility in understanding and improving the organisation and accountability of local policing and the response to crime and disorder.
I have also made efforts to obtain this data via other means, notably through ONS, Home Office and police force websites, but have not been able to locate it completely or have not been able to establish the currency and/or validity of the data – hence the need for this FOI.
Response
Please find enclosed our response:
Q1- the name of the area, any corresponding ONS geographical code (these are typically a 9-digit string comprising the letter E followed by 8 numerical characters), and any short string code used by the force as shorthand to represent the geography.
West Midlands Police Local Policing Areas are co-terminus with ONS Census 2021 Local Authority areas. The borders are the same.
The areas are:
Wolverhampton; Walsall; Birmingham; Sandwell; Dudley; Solihull and Coventry. All the areas are aligned with the relevant local council to the area.
| WMP Local Policing Area (LPA) | Code | Lad21code | Lad21name |
| Birmingham | BH | E08000025 | Birmingham |
| Coventry | CV | E08000026 | Coventry |
| Dudley | DY | E08000027 | Dudley |
| Sandwell | SW | E08000028 | Sandwell |
| Solihull | SH | E08000029 | Solihull |
| Walsall | WS | E08000030 | Walsall |
| Wolverhampton | WV | E08000031 | Wolverhampton |
Q2- the first and last name and rank of the current senior officer responsible (often known as the ‘local commander’ or similar) for the policing of that area, the date they were appointed, and an email address for the individual or position.
To see the current staff within the local policing areas please search on the link below “LPA”.
Home | West Midlands Police (west-midlands.police.uk)
For contact of any of these officers, using the same link you can use the “live chat” facility, or by emailing the “contact us” facility within the same website above.
Please note that we will not provide names or unique anonymised identifiers that would allow for any/each commander to be linked across appointments, or for an individual`s career progression to be connected by start/leave dates or promotions.
This information is exempt by virtue of S40 (2) Personal Information
Section 40(2) is an absolute and class-based exemption if to release the information exists would breach the third party’s data protection rights. In this case to release this personal information would not constitute fair processing of the data. As this exemption is class based I am not required to identify the harm in disclosure and in this instance, I believe that the right to privacy outweighs any public interest in release
Q3- the first and last name and rank of the last two senior officers in that post, and the dates they were in the roles
Please note that we will not provide names or unique anonymised identifiers that would allow for any/each commander to be linked across appointments, or for an individual`s career progression to be connected by start/leave dates or promotions.
This information is exempt by virtue of S40 (2) Personal Information
Section 40(2) is an absolute and class-based exemption if to release the information exists would breach the third party’s data protection rights. In this case to release this personal information would not constitute fair processing of the data. As this exemption is class based I am not required to identify the harm in disclosure and in this instance, I believe that the right to privacy outweighs any public interest in release
Q4- if no ONS code is provided: a description of the geographic extent of the area and the boundaries to which it is aligned (this might be one or more local authorities, or community safety partnerships, or similar)
ONS code has been provided.
Q5- Further, for each of the above areas a list of the smaller geographic areas that your force uses to organise and deliver local policing (these might commonly be called ‘neighbourhoods’ and will typically either be an individual ward or a collection of wards), including:
– the name of the area, any corresponding ONS geographical code, any short string code used by the force as shorthand to represent the geography
– if no ONS code is provided: a description of the geographic extent of the area and the boundaries to which it is aligned (this might be an individual ward or a collection of wards).
Many WMP Neighbourhoods are co-terminus with ONS Ward boundaries, and some are not, with some being contained entirely within a Ward, and others covering parts of several wards.
Due to boundary creation at different scales, and some small changes that have been made to WMP boundaries, very few of the WMP Neighbourhoods are exactly co-terminus with ONS Wards. There will be small overlaps and underlaps, despite the areas being nominally the same. To account for that, we have created tables that list each Neighbourhood and the percentage of them that is in each Ward. Due to the small underlaps and overlaps, there are very few with 100% match. I have listed those where there is more than 1% of the Neighbourhood area within a Ward.
Similarly, we have created a table showing the proportion of ONS Wards within each WMP Neighbourhood where the proportion of a Ward in a Neighbourhood is more than 1% of the Ward area.
Please see attachments:
120A 24 attachment NH in Ward %
120A 24 attachment ward in NH %
The map below may assist:
The map below shows the WMP neighbourhood boundaries in co-terminus with the majority of parliamentary wards. However, mainly in Wolverhampton and Birmingham our WMP neighbourhoods do not correlate with the parliamentary wards as in 2023 these were changed. As the wards changed after our computer systems were set up, the cost implications / logistical issues to reset them to co-terminus sites is too great.
As recommended as good practice by the Information Commissioner’s Office a version of this response may be published on the West Midlands Police website.