More than 100 new police officers and PCSOs in the East Midlands in last year
More than 120 additional police officers and Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) have been put into neighbourhood roles in the East Midlands in less than a year, according to new Government figures.
While murders and serious violent crimes are at their lowest level for more than a decade, communities have continued to be blighted by shop theft, mobile phone theft and drug offences.
Figures released on April 7 show that 3,123 additional neighbourhood police officers and PCSOs have been hired or redeployed across the UK since April last year – including 124 in the East Midlands.
Last year, the Government pledged to have 3,000 additional neighbourhood policing personnel by the end of March 2026, meeting the target in February.
The Home Office’s Winter of Action scheme across December and January saw almost 18,000 arrests across more than 600 towns and cities as police presence and patrols were ramped up.
Of these, over 5,000 were for retail crime, over 1,000 for sexual offences, almost 1,000 for street crime, and over 10,000 – more than half – were for violent assault.
Sarah Jones MP (Lab), crime and policing minister, said: “Neighbourhood policing was hollowed out under the previous Government.
"Communities were left to face an epidemic of everyday crime that all too often seemed to go unpunished.
“To make matters worse, too many officers have been stuck behind desks in support roles when we need them out on our streets.
“We’re delivering the biggest reforms to policing in over 200 years and, crucially, putting 13,000 more neighbourhood officers where they belong – on the beat and fighting crime in our communities.
"The early delivery of additional neighbourhood officers marks a major milestone in meeting the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, which will ultimately see 13,000 additional neighbourhood personnel by the end of this Parliament – an increase of more than 75 per cent.”
All police forces have now also published bespoke Anti-social Behaviour (ASB) Action Plans setting out how they intend to continue tackling ASB in their communities.
And on the back of announcing these figures, the Government is also launching its plan to halve knife crime within a decade, which has called ‘Protecting Lives, Building Hope’.
A spokesperson said: “To tackle knife crime, the Government will support young people so they get the best start in life, stop those at risk from turning to knife crime and police our streets to catch and punish perpetrators.”
Nottinghamshire Police & Crime Commissioner Gary Godden (Lab) said: “I’m really proud that in Nottinghamshire we have one of the highest proportions of neighbourhood police officers of any force in the country.
“I believe neighbourhood policing is a fundamental part of building trust and confidence within our communities, which is why my recent budget proposals allow the force to maintain its overall officer number at approximately 2,400 along with 150 PSCOs.
“The new neighbourhood policing model was rolled out in 2024, which brought a new rota system and abstraction policy which protected neighbourhood police officers’ time to be spent in their communities.
"It means they are now able to be in the right place at the right time to engage with communities and work with them to tackle issues that matter most to local people.”