Comparing police numbers to preausterity level ‘not terribly helpful’
Comparing current police numbers to pre-austerity levels is not ‘terribly helpful’, Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne has said.
Mrs Bourne was speaking during a meeting of the Sussex Police and Crime Panel late last month, during a presentation on her office’s performance during the past year.
In her report, Mrs Bourne confirmed the force had been able to recruit an additional 179 officers during 2020/21. This included 129 officers from the government’s uplift funding, plus 50 from the increased police precept.
In light of this, Lib Dem James Walsh asked if this recruitment drive had seen the force return to ‘pre-cuts’ numbers.
Mrs Bourne said: “I think we have to move on. I came into office in 2012 – that was
nine years ago – and austerity was a while ago.
“What I think we need to look at now is the officers we have [and] how we are utilising them. Are they being as effective as they can be?
“Certainly officers now have Mobile Data Terminals (MDTS), which they didn’t have when I first came into office. The smart phones to you and I.
“There is a lot more that
technology enables for these officers as well.
“I don’t think it is terribly helpful to keep looking back ten years ago. Let’s look forwards on that.”
Dr Walsh asked for the figures from when Mrs Bourne first took office in 2012.
While the figures were not available during the meeting, data from the House of Commons Library, which goes back to 2003, shows Sussex Police had the full time equivalent (FTE) of 2,959 officers, as of March 31, 2012.
As of March 31, 2020, the force had the FTE of 2,717 officers, although it is unclear what effect the most recent recruitments will have had on this figure.
As a caveat, this data includes officers who are employed by Sussex Police but who may not be available for active duty.
Later in the meeting, Mrs Bourne spoke more about mobile data terminals saying new abilities had been added to the devices in the last year.
These included the ability to take fingerprints.
More generally, these devices allow officers to access information and fill in forms while out on the beat.