Nearly 1,000 West Midlands Police officers are enjoying second incomes, according to official figures released by the force.

The figures show that 979 of 7,000 police officers and a further 201 civilian staff are earning extra income from non-police work.

More than a third (382) are earning an income from renting second homes or holiday homes, whilst others are working in a host of jobs ranging from driving positions (31) to sport and fitness posts (68) to alternative therapy (19).

The West Midlands force placed the business interests in groups, which included individual jobs like cleaning, HGV driving, reflexology, disc jockeying and even modelling, although it would not confirm how many officers had such second jobs.

It is the first time the business interests of the chief officers across the country have also been published.

Earlier this month the interests of those chief constables, deputy chief constables and assistant chief constables, and police staff equivalents, were made available through a register via the College of Policing's website.

The register has been created as part of a drive to increase transparency and enhance public confidence in the integrity of chief officers.

It has revealed that two officers on the West Midlands command team have a business interest listed as "other".

The force told the Post that the business interest relates to the partners of those officers, but said they were unable to say what the businesses were.

A further six civilian equivalents – in the top management band – are also listed as having "other" jobs. Two of those six have a business interest in letting or renting property, but the force said it didn't have the information to tell the Post what the remaining four related to.

Police staff are allowed to take second jobs or run companies if approved by their superiors.

They are allowed to complete the extra work if there is no direct conflict of interest, they do not damage their force's reputation or affect their ability to report for duty.

Birmingham's Perry Barr MP, Khalid Mahmood, said he did not blame officers who were looking further afield as they reached the end of their careers.

The Labour MP said the use of Regulation A19 may have had a bearing on officers looking at business opportunities earlier than they may have done before. The force lost nearly 600 police officers between 2010 and 2013 with the use of A19 that forcibly retired officers with 30 years of service.

He added: "This is a very difficult issue and we have had a similar debate in parliament. The result of that was that people have had to be totally open about their business interests.

"I would say that the most important thing is that these interests do not detract from the current job.

"I believe that the use of the Regulation A19 will have had a bearing on this because a number of officers will have become very uncomfortable at the idea of having to retire early.

"Because of this they will inevitably look at other options to protect their livelihoods and that of their families.

"It goes without saying that some people will have started to look for a reserve plan."

West Midlands Police said it would not directly comment, referring the Post to the College of Policing.

In June the college published the first national register of chief officer gifts and hospitality and the chief officer pay and reward packages were published a month earlier.

The college's integrity programme lead, Assistant Chief Constable Richard Bennett, said: "The college committed itself to publishing the three registers to benefit the public, and that work is now complete.

"The information has been collated in one place for the first time and shows forces are committed to being more open and transparent."