Numbers of officers revealed as part of recruitment drive

THE numbers of Gloucestershire’s finest are set to swell in the coming months after the Home Secretary set out plans for increasing officer numbers.

After Boris Johnson promised to employ 20,000 more police officers in England and Wales when he became Prime Minister the Home Secretary Priti Patel has released further details of that recruitment drive.

More than 420 officers will be recruited in the first wave of recruitment in the South West - meaning Gloucestershire Constabulary will get 46 extra officers, or four per cent more.

Across the country 6,000 police officers will be recruited in the first wave.

More officers will have to be recruited nationally in at least one of the next rounds of recruitment if the Government is to meet its pledge.

A Government spokesman said it is providing £750 million in order that the additional officers could be on the streets by the end of 2020-21.

All new officers recruited will be in additional to those hired to fill existing vacancies and on top of the extra officers already being recruited because of the £1billion increase in police funding for 2019-20, which includes money from council tax and for serious violence.

Government funding for recruitment in 2020-21 will cover all associated costs, including training and kit.

Home Secretary Priti Patel set out her vision for policing this week when she chaired a meeting of the National Policing Board, involving representatives of frontline officers and police leaders.

She said: “The public are clear they want to see more police officers on their streets, whether they live in the city or the countryside.

“This is the people’s priority and it is exactly what the Government is delivering.

“This means there will be more than 400 more officers across the South West, helping to reassure communities and keep them safe.”

It is currently on target to be less than the 150 which the county’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Martin Surl, said he wanted to see, but there will be more in the future.

Under the existing funding formula,the county would expect to get 150 new officers- bringing Gloucestershire Constabularyback to where it was in 2010 before austerity in terms of staffing numbers.

Speaking this week he said the “devil will be in the detail”.

Neighbouring forces in the South West - Avon and Somerset and Wiltshire Police - will both grow by five per cent.

John Apter, national chairman 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, but this is certainly a positive start and will provide a muchneeded boost to my members and the communities they serve.”