Public 'not getting service it deserves' thanks to budget cuts - police chief saysThe West Midlands Police chief constable says the public is not getting the police service it deserves.
Dave Thompson said that, due to recent cuts to the police budget, the force sometimes provided a "poor service" that did not meet the public's expectations.
In an interview with BBC News, Mr Thompson apologised to the public, and said budget cuts and fewer officers policing a "wider spread of crime " had left his officers unable to tackle everything.
The head of Britain's second biggest force spoke after he had gone back on the beat to see for himself what officers are dealing with every day, reports BiriminghamLive.
He said he was "drawing the bar higher" as to what would be investigated - meaning not every crime or allegation would be looked into.
In the interview he said: "The level of calls we're receiving this summer are very challenging [and] sometimes that service that we're providing [at] those peak times doesn't meet what the public expect.
"I get that. Sometimes that service will be a poor service, sometimes actually the service is what we can and say we will offer, and sometimes that might not always be what the public want to see."
He said cuts across all public services had seen more vulnerable people coming into contact with police.
And "the list" of crimes, such as modern day slavery and gun and gang crime, that must be investigated had increased.
"We may be dealing with it over the phone where they would like to see us and I'm sorry about that but that is the reality of where policing is now," he said.
"And on some occasions yes, you are right, the service will not meet what I want it to do and it will not meet the response that the public absolutely will want when they're at a time of vulnerability.
"We are drawing the bar higher than we used to as to what we will investigate."
Mr Thompson said he accepted that no longer investigating offences such as criminal damage, car thefts and shoplifting could undermine public confidence, but it was "simply because of the resource available."
He stressed he was not talking about offences such as serious assaults which would still be investigated thoroughly.