Officer uplift: 147 extra offices for Kent is a real opportunity to restore damage caused by cuts
9 October 2019
Kent's uplift of 147 officers is an opportunity to restore the damage caused by police cuts, says Federation Chair Neil Mennie.
The Government announced this morning how it would allocate the first tranche of 20,000 extra officers for forces in England and Wales.
Kent Police Federation Neil Mennie said "The uplift of extra officers here in Kent presents a real opportunity to restore some of the damage caused by the significant cuts to policing. Kent Police is fortunate in that the PCC had already funded some additional recruitment before this uplift was announced.
"This also means that the mechanisms and ability to process and train new recruits is already established. Whilst this does present some additional challenges having seen the structure and preparations being made, Kent is more than capable of recruiting the officers.
"Already in Kent officers and staff are being encouraged to engage to add their own ideas as to the best use of the uplift.
"Also we should not forget that our officers are very well supported in a number of areas of policing by Police Staff and its right to consider the potential for more.
"In time this could have a real impact on Policing here in Kent and the health and welfare of some very stretched officers."
Kent's extra allocation will take them to 3,700 officers – 87 officers short of their 2010 number.
A total of 6,000 officers will be recruited across England and Wales by the end of 2020/21.
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