Even if achieved, it would still fall short of the 21,000 officers lost since 2010 – and there are no plans to
reverse the separate decline of 15,000 police staff, which has resulted in officers being dragged into back
office and administrative duties.
The Home Office has admitted it does not know how much the scheme will cost or where the money will
come from. Details “still being worked out” include how the new recruits will be spread across different
ranks, and shared between the 43 regional forces in England and Wales, a spokesman said. It is also unclear
how 20,000 more officers will be accommodated following the closure of 600 stations since 2010.
Chief Superintendent Paul Griffiths, president of the Police Superintendents’ Association, told The
Independent the uplift was “not the answer to all evils”.
“We really welcome it but the whole thing will take five or six years to fully implement,” he said. “The
policy will get us back to 2010 officer levels but it doesn’t deal with the police staff that were lost. A lot of
officers are being taken off the streets to do administration and organisational stuff.”
Official statistics show that more than 8,700 police officers left forces across England and Wales in 2018-19,
7 per cent of the service. Departures at the same rate over the coming three years would mean that 26,
posts will have to be filled before any true increase in officer numbers can start.
Ch Supt Griffiths believes Mr Johnson’s target can be achieved but warned that it would be “painful” to
complete by 2022, because of the speed of recruitment and training required.
The Liberal Democrats said the increase would be “unachievable” unless the government gives officers a
pay rise to retain staff and encourage new recruits. A National Police Chiefs’ Council report recently found
more than half of forces missed recruitment targets in 2018-19, with many falling short by over 25 per cent.
Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrats’ home affairs spokesperson, said: “Police forces were already struggling to
recruit enough officers before they were tasked with increasing numbers by 20,000. With police facing
rising levels of violence and being asked to do more and more with less and less, it’s not surprising that
recruiting and retaining high-calibre officers is a major challenge.”
The falling number of police officers has been named as one potential driver of rising violence and
plummeting detection rates for crime.
A boarded-up police station: hundreds of
communities have been left without a base for
officers (Getty)Police numbers came under fresh scrutiny after the death of police officer Andrew Harper while responding
a reported burglary in Berkshire on Thursday. Police Federation chair John Apter told BBC Radio 4’s Today
programme that police were more vulnerable in many parts of our community, saying: “We can’t ignore the
reality that there are almost 22,000 fewer police officers and many thousands fewer police staff than there