The latest group of police recruits at a recent Passing Out Parade in Exeter
The Government’s Operation Uplift, which started in April 2020, has a national ambition of recruiting 20,000 additional officers in three years.
And figures released this week by the Office of National Statistics show that 11,053 of these new officers are already in post.
So far Devon and Cornwall Police has successfully recruited 229 of its allocated uplift meaning a current cohort of 3,394.
That number is expected to rise to 279 by next April and 423 12 months later which will bring the total number of officers to 3,610 – significantly higher than the 3,556 officers in 2010 pre-austerity.
“Thanks to support from council tax payers in Devon and Cornwall the Force has increased officer numbers each year since I was elected in 2016,” said Commissioner Hernandez.
“The Government funding for Operation Uplift is most welcome and the Force is working very hard to meet its recruitment targets.
“We are recruiting more women than ever before and, though numbers joining from minority ethnic communities remain small, we continue to improve our offer to those communities by make policing an attractive career option. To be world class the police must strive to be representative of the community it serves.
“I’d like to use this opportunity to remind people that there is no upper age limit to becoming a police officer. We need people from a range of backgrounds and with a range of experiences to help us work together to achieve safer, resilient and connected communities and to maintain one of the safest police force areas in the country.”
Anyone interested in becoming a police officer or member of staff with Devon and Cornwall Police should visit devon-cornwall.police.uk/recruitment.