141 new police officers for Cornwall and Devon in a year
Our force area had the biggest rise across the South West
Cornwall and Devon have been bolstered by 141 extra police officers over the past year.
That is the biggest rise across the South West, according to new figures.
It follows the government's major recruitment drive and brings the total number across the force area to 3,273.
Officials say it means more frontline officers on our streets to help keep people safe.
Since the launch of the recruitment campaign, a total of 5,824 extra officers have joined police forces across England and Wales.
This includes 397 in the South West, taking the total in the region to 9,817.
The government is currently on track to meet its commitment of recruiting 20,000 extra officers by 2023 and is ahead of schedule to have the first 6,000 in place by March 2021.
The figures also show that the police workforce is now more diverse than ever before, with 10.7% of new recruits identifying as Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic. A total of 9,842 of all officers are now from these groups.
Police pay by is rising by 2.5% this year, equivalent to a constable receiving an extra £1,100.
Other steps to support frontline police include a £1.1billion funding boost for forces this year – the biggest increase in a decade – as well as funding to provide over 8,000 more officers with Taser devices and personalised new stop and search powers so they can effectively target repeat offenders.
“We’re proud to have already recruited our allocation from the government in advance of expectations.
“But we haven’t stopped yet. We are still recruiting officers, with another 50 paid for by our local council tax payers.
“Our recruitment and passing out parades have been so different this year due to coronavirus, including lots more home online learning and no family present to see them finish.
“But we didn’t let the virus stop us bringing in new officers and our community can’t wait to meet them out and about.
“Now we await the next phase from the government allocation and are ready and waiting to press ahead with welcoming more officers into the policing family.
“We may be one of the lowest crime areas, but we also have one of the lowest number of officers per head of population, especially when our population swells in the summer. Every officer is very much needed to help keep crime levels low.”
Alison Hernandez, Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner