“You’ll hear them before you see them – you’ll hear them scattering,” whispers Chris Smith, a delivery driver turned amateur crimefighter. Smith and his colleagues at Shirley Street Watch have become the scourge of low-level criminals in their little corner of Solihull in the West Midlands since they started patrols in January. Insp Iftekhar Ahmed, of West Midlands police, told the Guardian he was concerned that well-meaning citizens were “hindering the situation” by taking matters into their own hands. The West Midlands project is thought to be the largest in the country – and officers hope to boost it to more than 1,000 volunteers by next year. Smith said residents were “majorly disappointed” when Shirley police station shut down two years ago – one of 27 West Midlands police buildings closed as a cost-cutting measure.

Source: The Guardian November 23, 2018 16:05 UTC