West Midlands operation a success
Thursday, 07 October, 2010
THE West Midlands Police operation in support of the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham has been declared a huge success.
Assistant Chief Constable Sharon Rowe, who headed up the operation, said:
"Beginning on Sunday with a large protest march by 'Right to Work' campaigners, the event was always going to present significant policing challenges. Officers facilitated a peaceful march as it made its way through the city centre at the same time as up to 14,000 delegates arrived for the start of the conference and a major security operation got underway."
Up to 2,000 police officers were involved in the operation on Sunday, with approximately 700 deployed throughout the course of each day of the conference.
Over the four days there was only one arrest made (a person not associated with the conference) for an offence of drunkenness.
Extra police officers were on hand to police Birmingham's main night time economy area in and around Broad Street adjacent to the ICC venue. With the hotels at full capacity, the area was busier than usual but again trouble-free.
ACC Rowe continued: "This event has been months in the planning. Working with Birmingham City Council, Marketing Birmingham, the ICC, the Hyatt, and many more partners, this really was 'Team Birmingham' at its best. Each of us added an essential element to the smooth, safe and successful running of the event; the outcome was great synergy, cooperation and understanding of each other's role.
"The conference has once again put Birmingham and the West Midlands under a national and international spotlight, and from a policing perspective demonstrated how West Midlands Police successfully manage major events and the associated security, as well as balance people's rights to protest while maintaining local policing delivery and keeping disruption to an absolute minimum.
"We are proud to have been able to play our part in this event and I am proud of the way our officers and staff helped make it an outstanding, safe and secure conference."
