Saturday, February 2, 2013

North Wales Police "keeping force numbers strong"

Latest Home Office figures show North Wales Police is succeeding in keeping force numbers strong.
Between March and September 2012 an additional 43 police officers were recruited, which raised the strength by 12; police staff numbers strengthened by 71 over the year from September 2011 to 2012; and an additional 97 Police Community Support Officers (PCSO's) took to the streets over the same period.
Chief Constable Mark Polin said: "In the first six months from September 2011 police officer numbers fell by 39, which given the context of a significant cut in funding was not surprising.
 
"However, the fact that as a force we have been working hard to deliver savings over a number of years meant that we were able to begin to recover from this dip, with 43 officers being recruited between March and September last year.
 
"In light of the economic climate we looked at new ways of working and credit must go to those within the organisation whose focus on driving out savings and willingness to be flexible have made this possible."
Police Constable recruitment resulted in four intakes with the first 22 new officers taking to the streets in January this year. They will be followed by a further 21 in April and 24 in August and recruitment will continue over the coming year.
The recruitment of additional PCSO's, which was assisted by funding from the Welsh Government, alongside the recruitment of PCs presented a significant recruitment and training challenge. It was correctly predicted that a substantial number of our existing PCSO's would be successful with their applications to become PCs.
The same applied to Special Constables, with 34 being recruited as either PCs or PCSO's.
Chief Constable Polin added: "The movement of Specials and PCSO's shows that both offer an entry route for those wishing to become a police officer. It's encouraging to see so many making the move into the regular force."

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