Police in Bucks, Beds and Herts to receive nearly £11million in funding to boost officer numbers
The PM has said there will be 3,000 new neighbourhood police officers across the country "by the start of next year".
Last updated 10th Apr 2025
Police in Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire will receive nearly £11million from the Home Office to increase the number of officers, PCSOs, and special constables patrolling the streets.
It's after Sir Keir Starmer said there will be 3,000 new neighbourhood police officers across the country "by the start of next year".
The plans will also include a "named, contactable" officer for every area as the Government pushes to improve neighbourhood policing with a £200 million investment.
Hertfordshire Constabulary will receive £3,052,407, while Bedfordshire Police will get £1,803,234, and Thames Valley Police will get £6,093,042.
The Prime Minister told police officers at an event in Cambridgeshire: "I want you to have the tools that you need to do the job that we ask you to do."With our neighbourhood policing guarantee, we'll deliver 13,000 new neighbourhood officers by 2029.
And today I can announce the first step, 3,000 new neighbourhood officers by the start of next year - all of them visible, on the beat and serving their communities, not stuck behind a desk, or taken away to plug shortages from elsewhere.
And from this July, so a few months' time, every neighbourhood will have a named, contactable officer.
They'll have guaranteed police patrols in town centres and hot spots, particularly at peak times like Friday and Saturday nights.
People will be able to go online and measure how their local neighbourhood team is performing. There will be a range of ways for local residents and businesses to raise their concerns and to demand change from their neighbourhood policing team."
Sir Keir said the "culture of crime that is destroying our communities" must be brought to an end."
He added: "I'm sure you've all heard this, but all of my career, whether as a lawyer, a prosecutor or a politician, people have said to me, 'anti-social behaviour... it's low-level crime'.
Well, it isn't. It really affects individuals, their families and their communities, inhibits what they could do."
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the Government is "determined to rebuild neighbourhood policing".
Also speaking in Cambridgeshire, she said: "So to set out the new neighbourhood policing guarantee today, the named, contactable officers, the additional plans for neighbourhood policing in every region and restoring that principle of officers and PCSOs, who know their local communities, work with local businesses and communities to solve problems and prevent crimes and to target repeat offenders and gather that intelligence to convict criminals and get justice."
Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner, Matthew Barber said:
“Having already more than doubled the number of neighbourhood police officers in Thames Valley, I am delighted that my bid for additional funding has been successful.
This means that Thames Valley Police can now recruit an extra 68 neighbourhood police officers over the coming year.
Neighbourhood policing is the keystone of my Police and Crime Plan and once these officers hit the streets there will be more than two and a half times as many neighbourhood police officers as when I launched my Crimefightersstrategy back in 2023.
Neighbourhood crime and antisocial behaviour can have a significant impact, leaving people feeling unsafe in their own communities, and shouldn’t be tolerated.
The increasing number of officers, in both neighbourhood policing and in other vital roles is having an impact.
Crime is falling across Thames Valley, the police are making more arrests and more crimes are being solved.
Expanding the recruitment of neighbourhood police officers is crucial to delivering our priorities to protect communities, and improve trust and confidence in policing, by making officers more visible and embedded to keep people safe and prevent as well as act on crimes that affect residents and businesses.”
Kemi Badenoch questioned Labour's figures in its plans to boost the number of neighbourhood police officers.
Pointing to the rise in national insurance contributions, she added: "It is less than the £118 million that the police service is going to be paying for the jobs tax."
Asked if the Tories could still claim to be the party of "law and order" after police numbers fell under the Conservative government, Mrs Badenoch said: "Yes. Absolutely we can.
We also brought in 20,000 new police officers after 2019, and one of the things that I emphasise is that we wouldn't have released prisoners early in the way that Labour have done."
The Government's new Police Standards and Performance Improvement Unit will aim to ensure police performance is consistently and accurately measured, to narrow the gap between the best and worst performing forces.
Through the Government's Crime and Policing Bill, new powers will be given to police so they can better tackle crimes including giving police the power to seize vehicles and go after phone thieves by removing the warrant to search properties where stolen items have been electronically geolocated.