THE new chief constable of West Mercia police has a tough task ahead - juggling the demands of his six children with one of the most high-profile positions in the country.

Paul West says he is delighted to have been appointed as chief constable in such "a beautiful part of the world" and is looking forward to moving into his Worcestershire home.

Mr West, a physics graduate from Oxford University, took over the running of West Mercia police on Monday after working as a deputy chief constable in Thames Valley.

He joins West Mercia at a time when police numbers are at an all-time high with 2,400 officers - the highest number since the authority was established in 1967.

"There's been a large increase in the number of officers and I will be doing my level best to translate that into a visible presence," said Mr West.

But the chief constable, whose children are aged between three and 18, says he has no plans to "revolutionise" the running of the West Mercia force.

"It may sound a clich, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it," he said.

"I'm looking to build on a lot of excellent work by my predecessors. I want to build on what's already in place rather than knocking it all down and starting again.

"I've got no preconceived agenda to unilaterally change things.

"But I'm very keen on new ideas and trying new things."

Reducing crime, increasing detection, reducing road collisions and reducing anti-social behaviour are all on Mr West's agenda, as too is community policing.

"At heart I'm a police officer, and enjoy going out on foot patrol," he said.

"If you see an officer on foot, that's really nice. You get an automatic warm feeling that you don't really get from seeing a police car.

"While we move on technologically, for instance with forensic science, policing is about relating to people.

"It's about going that extra mile to do your best for the public."

Mr West believes the key to tackling anti-social behaviour is the community working in partnership with the police.

"It's got to be a combination of forces," he said. "We need to do our best to keep people out of the criminal justice system. It can be very difficult for people to make something of their life when they have been through the system.

"We all deserve a second chance. No one is infallible."

It was a television programme, aired while Mr West was still at school, that first inspired him to consider a job cracking crime.

"It was the time of the TV programme The Expert, which was the English version of Quincy. He was a one-stop shop and I used to think being a forensic scientist was like that.

"But when I went to visit a lab, I realised they analysed samples and didn't really get to meet the public, which is something I wanted to do, so I decided to join the police force instead."

Now the 45-year-old is no stranger to appearing on television himself having been the subject of a BBC programme called The Philadelphia Experiment, where cameras accompanied him on a trip to America to look at a computer programme that records, tracks and maps crime.

When he's not playing with his toddler or helping out with A-level maths homework, Mr West likes to relax by listening to music.

"I play the violin and enjoy all types of music, including, appropriately, Elgar," said Mr West, adding that a trip to the Elgar Museum was on his "to do" list.

He is also hoping to find time to indulge in another of his great passions - football.

"I'm looking forward to watching Kidderminster Harriers although as a Newcastle United supporter, I'm not used to wearing red and white.

"Red and white is the colour of Sunderland - Newcastle's arch rivals - so it will be very strange wearing their colours!"