his contract in May 2009, after seven years in the post. His replacement was Chris Sims. The force attracted controversy in 2010 when Project Champion, a £3million scheme to install a network of CCTV cameras in the predominantly Muslim areas of Washwood Heath and Sparkbrook, came under fire from local residents and civil rights organisations. A total of 218 cameras had been planned for installation but the project was abandoned following concerns over their legality and objections from residents and local councillors that they had not been consulted by the force. Between April and September 2010, WMP budgets were cut by £3.4million as part of a programme to reduce spending by £50M over four years. In response to the 2010 Comprehensive Spending Review, Chief Constable Sims said WMP would need to reduce spending by up to £123million over the same period. In 2010, the force implemented regulation A19, requiring officers with 30 or more years service to retire, in response to government funding cuts. The regulation, used by 15 forces to make emergency savings, led to 591 WMP officers being forced to retire. Some of these officers later took WMP to an employment tribunal, alleging age discrimination. In 2014 the tribunal found the regulation to be unlawful. In 2015, 498 former WMP officers were seeking compensation. The ruling was later overturned by the Employment Appeal Tribunal, whose decision was upheld in the Court of Appeal in 2017. Plans to privatise parts of the force were halted by Bob Jones, the force's first Police and Crime Commissioner, upon taking office in 2012. Chief Constable Chris Sims was reappointed to a second three-year term in 2013, then stepped down at the beginning of 2016. He was succeeded by Dave Thompson, who had previously been Deputy Chief Constable. In March 2021, Oliver Banfield, a probationary officer with West Midlands Police, was convicted of assault by beating after using techniques taught in police training to attack a woman while off-duty. Banfield was sentenced to a 14-week curfew and ordered to pay £500 compensation to his victim. Former Leader of the Opposition Harriet Harman described the fact Banfield did not receive a custodial sentence as “proof ... that [the] system fails women and protects men”. After the conviction, the Crown Prosecution Service apologised for initially declining to charge Banfield. In a May 2021 hearing, Banfield was found guilty of gross misconduct and banned from policing