More than 3,000 extra officers join police in Govt recruitment drive
APCC Chair, Katy Bourne OBE said:
“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.
The government’s Uplift programme will ensure that all police forces have the numbers they need for business as usual and the increased demand of policing safe, social interactions.
It also 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.
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.”