85 New Police Officers For Derbyshire

Derbyshire Constabulary has been allocated an additional 85 police officers in the first round of the national uplift announced by the Government last month.

The Police and Crime Commissioner, Hardyal Dhindsa and Chief Constable Peter Goodman both welcomed the news.

The announcement coincided with a visit to Derbyshire by Kit Malthouse MP, the Minister of State for Crime, Policing and the Fire Service, which included a walkabout in Derby City with Derbyshire Officers and a visit to the Knife Angel Statue currently on show outside Derby Cathedral.

Mr Dhindsa, who was there to welcome the Minister to the Force headquarters, said he had stressed the need for certainty on the timescales for the funding arrangements necessary to pay for these extra officers.

He said: “While I welcome this announcement, it still leaves us some way short of the numbers we had in 2010. I have been calling on the Government for additional resources for Derbyshire Police for a long time and it is clear that they have realised the imperative of our argument.  These extra officers, plus the new recruits already on the streets as a result of my budget this year, will undoubtedly help to boost police service delivery.

“But we are now urgently seeking clarification on the funding arrangements which will unlock our ability to physically start recruitment.  The sooner we get this information the sooner we will see extra feet on the beat.

“I discussed my concerns with the Minister who said he would take my views back to the Government.”

The Chief Constable Peter Goodman said: “I am very pleased with the uplift we can expect in Derbyshire, it’s great news for the county. For the first time in almost a generation, we will see the number of police officers we have available to us grow significantly.

“I met with the policing minister and we had a positive discussion about the uplift in officer numbers.”

The Government’s announcement said that it is providing £750 million to support forces to recruit up to 6,000 additional officers by the end of 2020/2021 increasing to 20,000 by 2023.