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The Chief Constable of West Midlands Police has admitted officers have attended emergencies in police cars without sirens, but denied it’s a result of cost-cutting.

Chris Sims spoke out at the Strategic Police and Crime Board after it emerged that police attended more than 100 urgent calls in the last 12 months in marked police cars, which had lights but no fitted sirens.

The Police Federation, which represents rank and file officers, revealed that officers had been deployed to emergency and said it was due to the reduction in staff caused by huge government-imposed budget cuts.

Police "fear letting down the public" because they are being sent to urgent calls in the ill-equipped cars, which have been ordered as part of cost cutting measures, the union warned.

The Federation, which represents rank and file officers, said they are being hampered by the lack of proper resources.

The force is using 109 Vauxhall Corsa patrol cars that have blue lights but no sirens that were originally intended for neighbourhood policing and non-urgent inquiries.

Chief Constable Sims said the force had invested in Vauxhall Insignia cars for its emergency response teams, which are fitted with sirens and blue lights.

He added that it would be very unusual for Corsa cars to be responding to emergencies and said there was a clear demarcation in how vehicles are used in the fleet.

He added: “Neighbourhood teams still use older Corsa vehicles that are not suitable for response and do not have sirens fitted on them. They do have blue lights on them and are used at the scenes of accidents and other non-emergency duties.

“I absolutely get it and I would not want to stop officers from responding to incidents. That will always happen. But it would not be right to bring in other vehicles that are doing other duties.

“The answer is not to put lots of extra kit on lots of extra vehicles.

We have to be conscious of the safety of the public in ensuring that the right officers are responding in the right vehicles.

“This is not a financial issue, it’s a deployment issue.”

Officers are required to drive the Corsa at ‘patrol speed’ and obey the rules of the road. The absence of a siren means they cannot move traffic out of the way.

West Midlands Police Federation deputy chairman Tom Cuddeford said he was working with the force to find a solution.

He added: “The reality is that the Corsa is being utilised in response to emergency calls.

“We know there is a lot of unhappiness about this among our officers and are currently in negotiations with the force command team to find an appropriate way forward on the issue.

“Our officers want to protect the public and catch criminals. We get frustrated when we are not provided with the tools for the job because that impacts on the public.”

Superintendent Kerry Blakeman, from the force’s Operations department, said: “Any officer can respond to an incident if they are suitably trained to drive at speed and are in an appropriate vehicle - with lights and siren.

“Officers who are not appropriately trained and/or driving an appropriate vehicle can attend an incident as quickly and safely as possible while complying with the Road Traffic Act just as members of the public should.

“Incidents graded as ‘immediate’ are responded to as soon as possible, usually in a matter of minutes and on many occasions require the use of lights and sirens. At no point was the Corsa intended for response work as it is a low performance vehicle.”