AN officer with almost a quarter of a century of policing experience has been appointed as the new West Mercia Constabulary commander for the Vale.

Inspector Steve Brooker will be responsible for an area including Evesham, Pershore, Broadway and Droitwich.

He moves to his new post from the Worcester-based south Worcestershire divisional headquarters, where his duties included divisional planning, performance and quality assurance.

He has been with West Mercia for 24 years and served at Worcester, Kidderminster, Hereford and the force headquarters at Hindlip.

He also spent four years as a member of the training staff at the National Police Training Centre in Cwmbran, Wales.

Before joining the divisional command team, he was commander at Malvern for five Years.

Insp Brooker said: "Boundary realignment means that we are able to work alongside the local authority more easily in achieving our community safety aims.

"I am looking forward to working closely with all communities within Wychavon.

My priorities are to strive towards providing the public with a quality service and to reduce the fear of crime for all those who live and work in Wychavon."

He added that the Vale and Broadway were low crime areas and crime figures had decreased during the past year in Wychavon.

"That doesn't give reasons for complacency," said Insp Brooker.

"I think what's probably more important is the fear of crime and, if you get a community such as Broadway, for example, which is low in crime, you only need one particularly serious crime and the fear of crime goes up."

7 Inspector Steve Brooker at Pershore Police Station, covering Wychavon. Picture: STUART PURFIELD dc3502