‘Promising start’ with recruitment drive
29 January 2021
West Midlands Police Federation chair Jon Nott described new police recruitment figures as a promising start after the Force had an uplift of 357 officers in the first year of the Government’s campaign to boost officer numbers nationwide by 20,000 over a three-year period.
The figures released by the Home Office show there were 7,048 officers in the Force as at 31 December, up from 6,691.
“We welcome our new recruits and wish them well in their roles,” Jon said, “It’s encouraging to see an uplift in the number of officers on the Force as we face the ongoing challenges presented by the pandemic.
“This is a promising start to the recruitment drive and more officers on the ground are always welcome. Already this year we have seen 96 new recruits start with the Force and this rate of recruitment is expected to continue through the year.
“My colleagues continue to deliver a day-to-day policing service at a time when we’re also protecting the public from coronavirus.
“But there’s a lot of work still to do to ensure the recruitment drive is carried out as quickly as possible to provide much-needed support to our colleagues, and also to ensure that we retain the skills and experience of existing officers as well.”
The latest Home Office figures revealed that since April 2020, 42 per cent of new recruits to West Midlands Police have been female and almost 18 per cent who stated their ethnicity were from a Black, Asian, mixed or other ethnic group.
Jon said: “It’s important that our Force reflects the communities we serve. We need to do all we can to continue to attract recruits from across society to ensure a diverse service.”
Nationally, the Home Office figures show there were 135,248 officers in the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales as at 31 December 2020 – an increase of 6,814 officers.
Federation national chair John Apter said: “With demands on police officers increasing and the continuing challenge policing the pandemic, it’s good to see the number of new recruits increasing.
“There simply aren’t enough officers at this time and the pandemic has shown just how fragile the resilience of the police service is as more and more officers report sick or self-isolate.”
He added: “We need to ensure there’s a consistent long-term recruitment programme and that everything possible is done not just to recruit, but also to retain those who join.
“We also need to see ensure that we don’t drive down the average age of recruits and continue to attract people with life experience. In addition, we need to use this recruitment drive to ensure a diverse police service, so that forces fully reflect the communities they serve.”
