More officers on the beat as police tsar honours election pledge

Humberside Police will get an extra 17 police constables, four sergeants and 30 PCSOs, police and crime commissioner Keith Hunter announced today.

The majority of the new officers will be used to police the “highest demand” areas: East and West Marsh in Grimsby, Bridlington South and Scunthorpe.

There will also be two more sergeants, seven police constables and 10 PCSOs joining the city centre neighbourhood team in Hull during City of Culture celebrations next year.

Mr Hunter, a former Humberside Police chief superintendent, said: “When I took office Humberside Police was running below its established level of officers. The amount of financial reserves held was too high and by releasing some of these reserves we can increase the number of police officers and PCSOs and put them into the areas where they are most needed.

“This is the first step in that process and I will be carefully monitoring the effect these new officers and PCSOs will have, and look for other opportunities in the future to add further value.

“This will be reviewed in light of future police funding settlements from central Government which are as yet unknown.”

Chief Constable Justine Curran said: “Being able to bolster our service to communities with these extra officers is really good news for everyone.

“We have done a lot of work to identify exactly where these officers are most needed, according to the demand across the whole force area and the new officers will go directly to the neighbourhoods where they are most needed and where they will make the most difference.”

A recruitment drive is expected to begin in the coming weeks, with recruits expected to be out working in the streets, within the next six months.

The recruits will cost £8.1m over the next five years and come in addition to existing recruitment plans announced previously by the force.