New recruits take Nottinghamshire Police past 2,000 officer target

Nottinghamshire Police welcomed 54 new officers into the ranks at a passing out ceremony on Friday.

Cohorts 46, 46a and 46b were joined by family and friends at force headquarters in Arnold as they were given a final inspection by senior officers.

The arrival of the number of new officers has increased the total of police officers at the force to 2,022, a number that Chief Constable Craig Guildford had targeted since his arrival in February 2017.

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He said: “I’d like to welcome all three new cohorts to the force. I’m led to be believed that this is the biggest passing out parade we’ve had in some time and it was brilliant to have more than 200 people in attendance to witness a very special and a very memorable moment for my new colleagues.

“It’s a fantastic time to join the police. I’d like to congratulate all the officers and welcome them into our policing family.”

He added: “We’ve just crossed our target of 2,000 police officers and it’s been a real team effort from multiple departments to ensure we are an employer of choice.”

Paddy Tipping, Nottinghamshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, also attended the ceremony.

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He said: “We are continuing to increase our frontline strength and build up our neighbourhood policing presence to tackle more local problems and improve our services.

“2018 has been a very busy year for police recruitment and we will be marking the passing out of a further cohort in the very near future. We also have two groups preparing to embark on their initial policing training later this year.”

Mr Tipping added: “I’m very proud of the hard work of all our new recruits over the past 18 weeks and would like to thank them for their ongoing passion and enthusiasm. Nottinghamshire can look forward to a wealth of talent on its streets in the future and I wish all our new officers the very best of luck with their future careers.”

Over the coming weeks, the new officers will be deployed across the county and begin to take up operational duties alongside their tutor officers.

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22-year-old PC Katie Phillips, who is originally from Portsmouth, applied to join the force after seeing an advert on social media while studying law at the University of Nottingham.

She said: ““I’ve always had an interest in the criminal justice system, and while at university I started looking at different roles on offer.

“I spotted the advert on Facebook and not many forces were recruiting at the time, whilst Notts were having a big recruit drive, so it obviously interested me.”

She added: “Training was interesting and varied, a real mix of classroom based session and practical scenarios including going out on night time economy in the city centre. That was a real taster over the Bank Holiday weekend, it was a really good experience.

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“I’m excited to get out there now and it will be good to put all the knowledge into practice.”

For more information about a career with Nottinghamshire Police, visit www.nottinghamshire.police.uk/careers.