§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the West Midlands police as to the number of officers in his constabulary who are under the age of 25 years; and what this number represents as a percentage of the total West Midlands police manpower.
§ Mr. Giles ShawI understand from the chief constable that on 31 December 1985, 943 police officers in the West Midlands police were under 25 years of age, representing 14.4 per cent. of the strength of the force of 6,555 on that date.
§ Mrs Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will call for a report from the chief constable of the West Midlands police as to the areas of duties undertaken by his officers which permit flexibility of hours and in which uniforms are not worn and the numbers of requests which have been submitted during the last 12 months for transfers by police officers doing street duties.
§ Mr. Giles ShawI understand from the chief constable of the West Midlands police that there is a range of duties undertaken by police officers in the force which permit flexibility of hours and in which uniforms are not worn. Most of these duties are in the criminal investigation department, and there are others in such areas of scenes of crime, warrants, community services, firearms training, coroners' officers, complaints and discipline, and in the regional crime squad.
I understand that requests are regularly received from uniformed officers in the force for transfer to attachment to specialist departments, mainly in the interests of gaining further experience or career development. Precise figures are not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.