County police force to take on 120 new officers

Constabulary launching recruitment drive

LEICESTERSHIRE Police is to recruit 120 new constables and 100 additional community support officers following years of widespread budget cuts.

The force has slashed its budget by millions of pounds over the past few years due to government spending cuts and has lost hundreds of officers, mainly to retirement, as a result.

However, an increase in funding and “good financial management” means the force can now hire additional officers.

It confirmed that 20 of its own police community support officers (PCSOs), volunteers and special constables, as well as other staff, had recently started training as officers, with a further 20 to begin the nine-month process in December.

The force an external is launching recruitment drive in October to take on the further 80 officers by 2017/18.

It hopes some of these will be experienced officers who agree to transfer from other forces.

Recruitment is now open for the 100 PCSOs and it closes on September 4.

Assistant Chief Constable Phil Kay said: “It has become possible for us to increase our numbers and recruit new officers to the force through good finan- cial management, the support of the police and crime commissioner and an increase in funding.

“After a period of training these additional officers will be visible on the streets of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland serving our community and protecting them from harm. We want our force to be representative of the diverse community that we serve and therefore we would encourage all those interested in making a dif- ference to apply.”

However, the new recruits will not return the force to the strength it enjoyed in 2009.

At its height in 2009, it employed more than 2,300 officers but, by 2017, it had previously predicted this would fall to about 1,720.

Several hundred civilian support staff, including PCSOs, have also been lost in recent years.

Information on vacancies is available on leics. police.uk/join-us