Force to get 85 new recruits

10 October 2019

The Force will get 85 new recruits as its share of the 6,000 being taken on in the first year of the Government’s three-year programme to recruit 20,000 officers nationwide.

The allocation was announced by Home Secretary Priti Patel on Wednesday after the second meeting of the National Policing Board which was set up to oversee the recruitment drive and other major policing issues.

Tony Wetton, chair of Derbyshire Police Federation, said: “The numbers have been worked out using existing funding formulas. Our  view is that while  using this formula is not perfect this is the best way to share out the 6,000 officers and get them into forces in Year 1 of the uplift.  

“The really good news is that at least we're now talking about investment in policing rather than the disastrous funding cuts that have decimated officer numbers since 2010.  This increase will put us in a position to start making communities feel safer, reversing the increases in violent crime and also protecting officers’ health, safety and wellbeing.

“But we need to see officer numbers restored to where they were before the cuts programme.”

At the end of March 2010, Derbyshire had 2,049 officers. By the end of March this year this had fallen to 1,767.

In Year 1 of the three-year recruitment programme, the Metropolitan Police will get 1,369 new recruits. The next highest allocations are: West Midlands ((366), Greater Manchester (347), West Yorkshire (256), Merseyside (200), Northumbria (185) and Thames Valley (183).

The lowest allocations were: Warwickshire (41), Dyfed Powys (42), City of London (44), Gloucestershire (46) and Wiltshire (49).

The Home Office campaign, urging people to join the police and ‘Be a force for all’, was launched in the summer and is the largest police recruitment drive in decades.

The Chancellor has announced funding to support the recruitment of the first wave of up to 6,000 officers. This includes £750 million for 2020-21 and an immediate £45 million to kick-start recruitment.

The remaining 14,000 officers will be recruited in 2021-22 and 2022-23 through extra central funding and will be on top of extra officers hired to fill existing vacancies.