90 extra police officers boost region’s force

CHESHIRE Constabulary will benefit from an extra 90 police officers following the government’s promise to increase force numbers.

The region’s police team currently has 135 fewer police officers than it did in 2010. But that number will increase following the Home Office announcement for an extra 90 extra police officers before April 2021.

It is the first part of the Government’s promise to increase officer numbers by 20,000 nationally over the next three years.

It is providing £750m to support forces to recruit 6,000 additional officers by the end of 2020/21.

PCC David Keane said: ““Over the last three years, I have been calling on the government to increase police resources for Cheshire and I am pleased that it appears to have responded.

“Cheshire Constabulary has lost 135 officers over the last nine years and while this uplift will not take us back to officer numbers pre-2010, it will help us start to address the adverse effects austerity has had on local policing.”

“This overdue investment now needs to be met by fair funding for policing on a sustainable basis and I’ll be looking at the government’s settlement for policing in December to see if this announcement is being sustained or whether the responsibility will once again fall on the local council tax payer to offset the government’s real term cuts.

“It is also worth noting the recruitment of these officers will not happen overnight. Police officers need to be appropriately recruited and professionally trained.”

All officers recruited as part of the 20,000 uplift will be additional to those hired to fill existing vacancies.

They are also on top of the extra officers already being recruited because of the £1bn increase in police funding for 2019-20, which includes money from council tax and for serious violence.

John Apter, national chair of the Police Federation Of England And Wales, said: “Investment in policing is long overdue and for the first time we now have the actual number of officers each local force will increase by in the next year.

“These figures have been based on the current funding formula models and while this method is not perfect, I accept it is the only solution available to deliver the numbers quickly in year one.

“We now need to ensure that the formula is revisited for future years to ensure a fairer allocation of officers across all forces.”

The recruitment targets announcement follows the establishment of a £25m Safer Streets Fund.

● For those interested in applying for a career in the Force, a new website has been set up with more information.