Home Office says 335 police officers recruited in Yorkshire - but region has lost more than 1,300 in past decade

More than 3,000 officers have joined the forces in the six months since the Government announced a police recruitment drive, it has been revealed.

The Home Office announced in September its plans to bolster the country's police forces with an extra 20,000 officers over three years.

Today (Thursday), it revealed that ranks had been bolstered with an additional 3,005 officers – an increase of five per cent over the past year.

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However, numbers have shown previously that there had already been a reduction in 20,000 officers between 2010 and June of last year amidst Government cuts to public services, as Labour said Yorkshire had lost more than 1,300 officers in this time and accused the Government of "trying to fix a hole created by cuts".

An extra 335 police officers have been recruited in Yorkshire and the Humber, the Home Office has saidAn extra 335 police officers have been recruited in Yorkshire and the Humber, the Home Office has said
An extra 335 police officers have been recruited in Yorkshire and the Humber, the Home Office has said

Yorkshire's four police forces saw an extra 335 officers join the ranks since October, failing to reach the target of 562 extra officers.

Despite this, the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) has said it is confident of hitting its target of having recruited 6,000 extra officers by March next year.

NPCC figures showed crime levels fell by 28 per cent in the first few weeks of the coronavirus outbreak, yet police and crime commissioners have said that crime "is like water" and that the pandemic would create opportunities for other crimes to emerge.

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Official Home Office figures released today (Thursday) showed West Yorkshire Police increased its officer headcount by 252 to 5,465 officers since last year.

An extra 335 police officers have been recruited in Yorkshire and the Humber, the Home Office has saidAn extra 335 police officers have been recruited in Yorkshire and the Humber, the Home Office has said
An extra 335 police officers have been recruited in Yorkshire and the Humber, the Home Office has said

North Yorkshire Police has recruited a further 69 officers, with 1,519 now on the beat, while Humberside has seen an extra 72 join the ranks, bringing its total number of officers to 2,001.

South Yorkshire Police meanwhile had previously set its own targets of recruiting 220 extra officers ahead of the Government's announcement in September, and said it was working to meet this target first.

The force said today it expected to be "70 officers above initial forecast" by March next year.

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An extra 335 police officers have been recruited in Yorkshire and the Humber, the Home Office has saidAn extra 335 police officers have been recruited in Yorkshire and the Humber, the Home Office has said
An extra 335 police officers have been recruited in Yorkshire and the Humber, the Home Office has said
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Martin Hewitt, Chair of the NPCC, said: “With over 3,000 additional officers already joining policing in the past seven months, we are well on our way to meeting our target of 6,000 by March next year.

“Working with the Home Office, we are making every effort to keep recruitment of officers going despite all the challenges coronavirus brings."

Police chiefs have also said the recruitment drive would help to improve the diversity of forces.

Katy Bourne OBE, Chair of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, said: "It shows that there are plenty of people from all walks of life with diverse skills and experiences who want to become police officers at a critical time for our country and join the frontline in our collective endeavour against Covid-19."

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She added: “The positive latest figures for police officer recruitment show that police forces are being innovative in the face of adversity, adapting assessment and training procedures to safely manage the onboarding of the maximum number of new recruits.

"Although we know that the volume of many crime types has fallen due to travel and social restrictions, crime is like water, it always finds a level and the pandemic has created the circumstances for other crimes to mushroom.

"When there are more people back on the streets there will, sadly, be more crime so we still need those additional police officers that the public have been calling for.

"Our citizens quite rightly would prefer to see police targeting criminals and preventing crime rather than moving people on from beauty spots however, having put so much effort into the stay at home campaign over the last five weeks, we still need a police presence to deter those whose impatience and recklessness could spoil it for us all.”

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Meanwhile, Labour has said that, since 2010, police forces in Yorkshire and the Humber have lost 1,359 police officers, 472 PCSOs, 900 staff and almost £150m in funding.

Shadow Home Secretary, Nick Thomas-Symonds MP, said: “It’s welcome that we are starting to see a long overdue increase the number of police officers, especially at a time when they are doing such important frontline work helping to tackle this crisis.

“However, the reality is this growth in numbers is just trying to fix the hole created by Conservative cuts, which saw officer numbers fall by 21,000. This loss of officers and cuts to preventative services has shown the failure of the Conservatives on crime, which is rising across the country.”