More than 100 extra police officers in Notts

However, the plan to boost police ranks has been criticised by the Police Federation of England and Wales for not going far enough following policing cuts over a decade.

Home Office figures show that there were 2,272 police officers in Nottinghamshire Police in December, up from 2,153 a year before.

At an increase of 5.5 per cent, this was greater than the average rise of 3.5 per cent across England and Wales’s police forces.

Following Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s commitment to invest in police forces and increase officer numbers, the Home Office launched the police uplift programme in April 2020 with the aim of recruiting 20,000 new police officers by March 2023.

This would require a 15.6 per cent increase in police officers across the two nations’ police forces over the three-year period.

By December 2021, 11,505 officers had been recruited nationally, a 9 per cent increase.

The majority, 11,048, of these were hired through the uplift programme, with the rest recruited using local funds.

Initiative

In Nottinghamshire, the figure has risen by 12.4 per cent since April 2020, meaning 251 more officers, all recruited via the Home Office initiative.

The national increase follows dwindling police officer numbers between 2009 and 2017, when the total number across England and Wales fell from almost 145,000 to just more than 120,000.

Ché Donald, federation national vice-chairman, said: “The current uplift programme doesn’t go far enough, as it simply replaces the number of officers lost during the years of austerity.

“Not only do we have an expanding population but the level of crime has increased and become far more complex.

"In addition, the time officers spend dealing with non-crime issues, such as helping vulnerable people, has also risen.”

Mr Donald said the force needs ‘long-term recruitment and sustainable funding’ and police leaders must focus on staff retention, as well as recruitment.

A Home Office spokesman said: “Beating crime is the government’s number one priority, that’s why we are putting more police on our streets to keep our communities safe.”

He said it is is on track to recruit 20,000 additional officers by March 2023 and is increasing policing funding by up to £1.1 billion.

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