Home Office launches recruitment campaign

10 September 2019

The Home Office has launched a campaign to recruit 20,000 police officers.

The ‘Be a force for all’ initiative, announced on Thursday (5 September) is the largest police recruitment drive for decades and will see 6,000 people recruited in the first year of a three-year campaign sparked by Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s pledge to give forces the resources they need.

“When the Government first announced cuts to police budgets as part of its austerity measures, the Police Federation warned those cuts would have consequences,” says Al Wollaston, secretary of Hertfordshire Police Federation.

“Those consequences have included the loss of around 23,000 police officers nationwide, the closure of police stations, increased crime – particularly violent crime, an upsurge in assaults on officers and a massive increase in the number of officers being forced to take time off work due to stress and mental ill-health.

“This recruitment drive is welcome but long over-due. We need to see officer numbers restored to a level where we can provide a truly effective policing service for our communities with more proactive work, see a return to the visible policing presence we know our communities want and put an emphasis on officer safety and wellbeing.”

The Home Office campaign, urging people to join the police and ‘Be a force for all’, is the largest police recruitment drive in decades. It features serving police officers including a neighbourhood officer, a police dog handler and a firearms officer. One of the officers started as a volunteer Special Constable, while another is a former charity executive who changed career.

They will appear on billboards and digital displays, including locations such as shopping centres and train stations, across England and Wales as well as in a radio advertisement. A second phase of advertising is planned for the new year.

A new website has also been set up to provide potential recruits with more information and direct them to force recruitment pages.

A National Policing Board, chaired by the Home Secretary and bringing together Government and police leaders, has been set up to oversee the recruitment drive and other major policing issues.

A day before the campaign launch, Chancellor Sajid Javid announced funding to support the recruitment of a 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. No details of how the officers will be shared between forces have been given.

National Federation chair John Apter said: “We welcome the launch of the campaign, and the Government funding backing it, as it represents a desperately-needed lifeline to a service drowning as it is swamped by increasing demand and diminishing capacity. And I cannot deny that the Government appears to be making good on its pledges.

“However, as ever, the devil will be in the detail which is still to be confirmed. Police officers have been battered and bruised, and they cannot tolerate any more broken promises. This must be a genuine uplift of fully-warranted police officers, if it is watered down in any way - or the numbers fudged - it will further erode the trust of a police service already so disillusioned.”

The Prime Minister set out a commitment to giving police forces extra resources within days of taking over from Theresa May.

Mr Johnson said: “Getting more police on our streets is an absolute priority and I’m delighted our recruitment campaign for 20,000 new officers is now under way. I have been clear from day one I will give the police the resources they need and I am delivering on that commitment. They have my full support and together we will cut crime, get criminals off the streets and keep people safe.”