Five per cent increase in officer numbers

27 January 2022

Hertfordshire Police Federation chair Geoff Bardell has welcomed new Government figures which show a five per cent uplift in officer numbers last year.

However, Geoff said that the Government’s Police Uplift Programme won’t fix the damage caused by the austerity years as he called for investment in infrastructure, equipment and training to support the influx of new recruits and their colleagues.

The latest figures show there were 2,258 officers in Hertfordshire as at 30 September last year. This is up from 2,152 on 30 September 2020.

The five per cent increase is above the England and Wales average of 3.9 per cent, but Geoff said there’s still work to do to on recruiting and retaining officers.

Geoff said: “On behalf of the Federation I’d like to welcome our new colleagues to the Force and wish them well in their careers.

“It’s great to have extra feet on the ground at a time when officers are tackling a heavier workload than ever before, with the pandemic and rise in newer crimes such as cyber-crime.

“But we know there’s more work to do on recruitment until the uplift programme ends next year, and on retaining our experienced colleagues at the other end.

“Last year police officers were angry and frustrated when they were subjected to a pay freeze so we need the Government to ensure that they are paid fairly to reflect their unique role in society and the dangers they face while serving their communities. We also need to ensure that officer wellbeing is prioritised.” 

Nationally, the Home Office’s Police Uplift Programme statistics revealed there were 139,939 officers in England and Wales as of 31 December – an increase of 11,505 officers.

A total of 11,048 have been recruited from funding for the Police Uplift Programme and contributed towards the target of 20,000 by March 2023 – 55 per cent of the target.

If the 20,000 target is achieved, it would bring officer numbers up to around 148,000, which is slightly above the number of officers in 2010.

Police Federation of England and Wales interim chair Ché Donald said: “Not only do we have an exponentially expanding population which has grown by four million in the last decade, but the level of crime has increased and become far more complex. In addition, the time officers spend dealing with non-crime issues, such as helping vulnerable people and those in mental health crises, has also risen.

“We need long-term recruitment and sustainable funding in policing, and police leaders must ensure they don’t just focus on getting people through the door, but also do what is needed to retain them, such as fair pay processes, investment in wellbeing and better benefits, as retention is still a problem across the service.

“Forces must also ensure new recruits are given the most appropriate integrated learning that equips them for the reality of policing. These officers are joining after a period when the infrastructure of policing around training and assessments was similarly decimated, and we aren’t sure that forces have shaped themselves to deal with the influx of officers. We need quality not just quantity to ensure the public gets the best service we can provide.”