:00:09. > :00:11.The West Midlands Police force is introducing rigorous vetting
:00:12. > :00:15.checks and making it easier for staff to report corrupt
:00:16. > :00:17.colleagues after a former officer was found guilty
:00:18. > :00:21.Allan Richards was jailed for 22 years in November.
:00:22. > :00:24.Today a force spokesman said his actions had been
:00:25. > :00:27.like a slap in the face, and should never be
:00:28. > :00:32.For the whole of his long police career, PC Allan Richards
:00:33. > :00:37.from Birmingham was a secret abuser of boys.
:00:38. > :00:40.Any suspicions about his behaviour during that time failed
:00:41. > :00:49.Preventing and detecting crimes involving vulnerable people...
:00:50. > :00:53.Today, at the request of the Police and Crime Commissioner,
:00:54. > :00:56.the West Midlands force released a report detailing how it
:00:57. > :00:58.plans to uncover rogue officers and prevent them
:00:59. > :01:02.from going undetected for so long ever again.
:01:03. > :01:05.Us as West Midlands Police, every police officer
:01:06. > :01:07.and member of police staff, has been disgusted by
:01:08. > :01:09.what Allan Richards did and they are really pleased
:01:10. > :01:13.And we've got a number of processes in place
:01:14. > :01:16.addressing training, culture, and vetting,
:01:17. > :01:18.to try and ensure that that never happens again.
:01:19. > :01:23.So what did people know of Richards' activities?
:01:24. > :01:26.In the year 2000 a complaint was made.
:01:27. > :01:29.He was interviewed by police but no action was taken.
:01:30. > :01:33.Four years later he was banned from the Scout movement and again
:01:34. > :01:36.interviewed about an alleged assault but there was no prosecution.
:01:37. > :01:39.A year later Richards is moved to backroom duties,
:01:40. > :01:41.away from public contact. In 2011 he retires,
:01:42. > :01:48.Then in 2014 another victim comes forward prompting a fresh
:01:49. > :01:54.investigation leading to his conviction.
:01:55. > :01:57.Now if you've been in the force for more than ten years you'll be
:01:58. > :02:00.vetted again and there is a 24-hour hotline to report
:02:01. > :02:07.There is still the question of whether any individual officers
:02:08. > :02:09.will face disciplinary proceedings for failing to investigate
:02:10. > :02:13.Allan Richards properly in the early 2000s.
:02:14. > :02:16.That will depend on the results of a report from The Independent
:02:17. > :02:18.Police Complaints Commission which is due to be
:02:19. > :02:26.It is difficult for anyone to stick their neck out and say that
:02:27. > :02:30.We can say that the force has responded quickly.
:02:31. > :02:38.It is reassuring to know that the force does not want to be
:02:39. > :02:40.in this position again. Allan Richards has
:02:41. > :02:45.But senior officers say this case has also increased their resolve
:02:46. > :02:54.A Coventry man's been jailed for 18 months after being found guilty
:02:55. > :02:59.Ahmad Ismail, who's 19 and from Portwrinkle Avenue,
:03:00. > :03:02.was convicted along with two other men who planned to travel to Iraq
:03:03. > :03:06.The court heard Ismail had failed to disclose
:03:07. > :03:12.15 fire crews have been tackling a fire at a disused
:03:13. > :03:17.The fire was in an office building on the Lichfield Road site.
:03:18. > :03:22.Police and ambulance services are also in attendance.
:03:23. > :03:30.Firefighters in breathing apparatus have been searching the building.
:03:31. > :03:33.Figures released today show just how under pressure our emergency NHS
:03:34. > :03:34.services have been over the festive period.
:03:35. > :03:38.West Midlands Ambulance Service on New Year's day.
:03:39. > :03:41.That's 800 more calls than the last peak.
:03:42. > :03:44.In addition, waiting times have been lengthy at Accident and Emergency
:03:45. > :03:48.Our reporter Laura May McMullan has more details and joins
:03:49. > :03:59.Well, to sum it up in one word - it's been described as frantic.
:04:00. > :04:03.Over a five day period up to yesterday,
:04:04. > :04:06.West Midlands Ambulance Service received more than 18,500
:04:07. > :04:17.Across the region there's usually around 3,000 calls a day -
:04:18. > :04:22.but on New Year's day alone - that shot up to more than 4,500.
:04:23. > :04:25.The busiest the service has ever experienced.
:04:26. > :04:28.Now, bosses admit that increase has had knock on effects
:04:29. > :04:36.Some of those delays have peaked really high this year.
:04:37. > :04:39.At one point just yesterday we lost 350 hours of ambulance -
:04:40. > :04:48.Clearly that's unacceptable and want to make improvements on that.
:04:49. > :04:52.people are actually being urged to stay away unless it
:04:53. > :04:57.Waiting times at A have been anything up to 12 hours
:04:58. > :05:00.and on New Year's day there was a huge surge - more
:05:01. > :05:13.and New Year's morning you'd usually expect around 80 patients.
:05:14. > :05:15.By 9am on New Year's day they'd already seen 180.
:05:16. > :05:20.The numbers are really huge and some avoidable.
:05:21. > :05:30.Particularly if they're alcohol related.
:05:31. > :05:37.sensibly and if they're not sure dial 111.
:05:38. > :05:41.So before you dial 999 or attend A the advice is to think carefully
:05:42. > :05:45.and not impact the emergency care for others.
:05:46. > :05:50.New figures gathered by BBC Radio Stoke have revealed
:05:51. > :05:52.that police forces across our region are dealing with an increasing
:05:53. > :05:55.number of call outs involving the mentally ill.
:05:56. > :05:58.Every year for the last five years, they've gone up, reaching more
:05:59. > :06:03.The youngest person involved was a 13-year-old girl arrested
:06:04. > :06:06.by West Mercia Police - the oldest, an 81-year-old man held
:06:07. > :06:11.But actual numbers of people being detained in police
:06:12. > :06:13.custody have fallen, mainly due to projects
:06:14. > :06:26.where the police, social services and NHS staff work together.
:06:27. > :06:28.Dealing with people who have got drug issues, alcohol
:06:29. > :06:33.health, is something that agencies across the board need to deal with
:06:34. > :06:36.Two reasons, one because it is good for the individuals, and
:06:37. > :06:39.two because the amount of money that public services spend on mental
:06:40. > :06:41.health issues when they are far more advanced
:06:42. > :06:42.than they need to be, is
:06:43. > :06:45.absolutely phenomenal, and we need to reduce that cost.
:06:46. > :06:48.Researchers in Coventry have unveiled a new generation of
:06:49. > :06:51.batteries for electric cars, which they say are an 80%
:06:52. > :06:54.Staff at WMG are hoping they'll soon be put to the test
:06:55. > :07:11.Last week the Secretary of State announced having some battery
:07:12. > :07:15.technology in the Midlands, technology to go into an electric
:07:16. > :07:21.car, we need a facility to produce batteries in this country.
:07:22. > :07:24.They were known as the canary girls because the chemicals
:07:25. > :07:27.they worked with in the munitions factories in two world wars
:07:28. > :07:31.But there's never been an official recognition of the vital service
:07:32. > :07:32.these women carried out for their country.
:07:33. > :07:34.Sarah Bishop has been to meet one former worker,
:07:35. > :07:37.who survived an air raid on the factory where she was based.
:07:38. > :07:44.In 1942, Nancy Billings was one of over 2,000 women working
:07:45. > :07:47.at the Rotherwas munitions factory in Hereford.
:07:48. > :07:53.I was in empty shell, and it was quite hard work, really,
:07:54. > :07:58.heavy work and not very clean work, either, because we had to clean
:07:59. > :08:02.the shells and prepare them ready to be filled.
:08:03. > :08:05.At dawn on the 27th of July, the air raid siren sounded.
:08:06. > :08:08.Betty, my friend, she just worked opposite to me,
:08:09. > :08:11.she ran round and grabbed my arm and said, "Nancy, come
:08:12. > :08:23.We raced down the corridor and when we got out,
:08:24. > :08:28.the air raid shelters were locked and the very next thing was this
:08:29. > :08:30.aircraft that came down so low, you can see the swastika
:08:31. > :08:36.He came down so low and Betty shouted at me, "Nancy, Nancy,
:08:37. > :08:39.put your hands over your face, put your hands of your face!"
:08:40. > :08:42.So I did and then the bombs dropped and it was just
:08:43. > :08:52.The Germans had dropped at least two 250 kilogram bombs.
:08:53. > :08:55.Nancy and her friend Betty were the only two survivors out
:08:56. > :09:05.Having lost two sisters and her father in the war,
:09:06. > :09:08.Nancy went on to marry and have three children of her own.
:09:09. > :09:11.She's now 93 and says unlike women who were in the Land Army,
:09:12. > :09:14.she's had no letter from the Queen, no public acknowledgement
:09:15. > :09:19.of what she and thousands of other munitions workers did.
:09:20. > :09:22.BBC Hereford and Worcester is campaigning for a special
:09:23. > :09:25.veterans' badge to be issued to former munitions workers.
:09:26. > :09:27.So, if you or someone in your family worked in munitions
:09:28. > :09:36.please do get in touch, via Facebook, e-mail or on Twitter.
:09:37. > :09:38.Just one football result to bring you to tonight
:09:39. > :09:59.Here is the weather. The region was covered in a crust of ice and frost
:10:00. > :10:08.this morning. We did have clouds creeping in from the north. This
:10:09. > :10:14.frontal system will push South West tonight and tomorrow. After that
:10:15. > :10:20.high-pressure builds and. Another front will build them from the West.
:10:21. > :10:27.Brighter skies the further East you are. Tonight we have fragments of
:10:28. > :10:33.clear sky that cloud syncing southwards. That will cover the
:10:34. > :10:43.entire region. It will be frost free. There could be the odd spot of
:10:44. > :10:51.rain. Tomorrow morning starts on a cloudy and mild note. But cloud
:10:52. > :10:57.clears away southwards to leave us with plenty of sunshine to row of
:10:58. > :10:58.the day. Temperatures seven or eight Celsius, reasonably mild. Moderate
:10:59. > :11:02.wind.