The scale of and nature of demand is changing radically. Austerity is pushing budgets to the limit and the world in which the sector operates is becoming increasingly complex. The challenges the police are up against will sound extraordinarily familiar to those working in the local government sphere.

The thinking underpinning West Midlands Police's transformation programme, WMP2020, will also resonate with local government officers: a shift towards prevention; scaling back workforces and working in more agile ways; harnessing the potential of digital; and collaborating with the public, rather than doing things to people.