Police and Crime Commissioner Donna Jones has today (Wednesday) announced that Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary has reached its target to recruit 600 additional police officers.
The announcement comes following the Government’s police uplift target which was launched in 2020 to recruit 20,000 extra police officers across the country by 2023.
The Government set Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary a target of 498 additional officers. However, PCC Donna Jones went a step further and pledged an extra 102 police officers, bringing the total target for the force to 600.
PCC Jones has said:
“As Police Commissioner, increasing police numbers to keep you and your family safe has been my number one priority in my Police and Crime Plan, More Police Safer Streets, since being elected in May 2021. Since day one, the public told me they want to see more police and have safer streets and that’s why I increased the target for the force. I’m delighted to announce today the force has now surpassed the government’s target and recruited a net increase of 600 officers, which is over and above replacing those who leave or retire.
“It has been the largest recruitment drive the force has ever delivered. The new recruits I have met have been passionate and eager to start their careers catching criminals and making the streets safer; it is clear they have joined the job to keep communities safe from harm. These extra 600 are the first step.”
“I have since announced another 50 will be recruited in the coming year as part of my 2023/24 budget plan. But I want to go further, I want to get to one thousand quickly as we possibly can. Both the Chief Constable and I are resolute in our mission to strengthen local policing teams who connect with their communities. As your Police and Crime Commissioner, I pledge, to the people who live across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, that I will spend every pound of public money on giving you more police, increased visibility and bringing criminals to justice quickly.”
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Chief Constable Scott Chilton said:
“To have achieved our uplift target is an enormous achievement for our force and it has been an exciting time welcoming these new recruits into our police family. This has been a challenging undertaking so it is testament to the extraordinary work that has been carried out across the force that we are celebrating this milestone today. When I became chief, I was clear on my priorities. Exceptional local policing, having strong relationships with our communities, relentlessly pursuing those who commit crime and bring harm and misery to others, and ensuring kindness and compassion are at the heart of our response to victims.”
“These extra officers are key to helping us achieve this by being visible on the frontline. In my first month, I also appointed Area Commanders to lead a new geographical model of policing, restoring a crucial link with our communities. This is the first step of building stronger relationships which are the bedrock of local policing. Our force also now better reflects the communities we serve than ever before, but we know we have more to do here.”
“As part of this, I wanted to make sure that it was easier for those who wanted to join policing to be able to do so. Our new Policing PLUS scheme removes the requirement to complete a degree and gets our student officers out of the classroom quicker, putting thousands of hours of police time back into communities with on the job training. I hope this will give even more people the trust and confidence in us to do what we can to make Hampshire and the Isle of Wight a safer place for all.”
Be good to see a figure for the island only. We need more police stations open again
“I don’t believe it ” I totally agree with you. There should be “Known safe places” for anyone in fear or someone who is being harased could easily get to, and not just in the major towns on the Island. Open up the Police Stations again…if we can afford to ofcourse?
But I noticed no breakdown to how many were recruited to the island
Yeah, 596 for Southampton and 4 for the island. It would be a lot better if they got rid of Jones and all the other PCC’s around the country. Just think of all the savings on the cost of cake.
What a disgraceful comment. She does a sterling job and she lets me lick the crumbs off the plate when she’s finished!
More smoke & mirrors from the PCC ?? .. let’s wait and see the difference .. if any ?? Then if proved to be another lie .. hold her fully accountable .
Let’s hope they are all “Cox’s ies Orange Pippins”
i suppose they will have to buy 600 police cars now for them to drive around in easier to see the pope than a policeman on foot
Yeah, 600 new, wet behind the ears joiners who weren’t even interviewed, so desperate were Plod to hit the government targets.
As 1000+ experienced officers call it a day due to continuous interference from people like Jones.
I can’t believe people are so disparaging about Donna. She does a fantastic job on less than £150,000 a year and gets all this criticism. I wouldn’t even get out of bed for anything less than £200,000. It’s cheap in my book. Fair play to her I say.
I don’t know why you get so many downvotes. Do people on the Isle of Wight not get irony?
You have to view the “new additional police officers” in context. Across the country, 20,000 police officers have been recruited but 21,000were slashed by Theresa May when she was Home Secretary along with a massiv enumber of PCSOs. So all that is really happening here is that some of the headcount removed earlier by the Conservatives has been reinstated. But there is a degree of double counting going on plus, you cannot quantify the experience that was lost in the slash and burn. The new officers will grow into their role but it takes time.
Let’s just hope the background checks have been thorough!
Now how about more social workers and mental health help, so we can prevent some of the crime before it happens.
That means they will want more council tax money next year
Donna Jones , who claimed on live tv that 2 million people voted for her!!! she isn’t even a police woman, never walked a beat, just woke university values that don’t make sense.
On the job training for law enforcement officers is he for real their not learning to operate a bloody nail gun in a wood factory a cop should be one step down from a lawyer in training and knowledge of the law Jesus Christ why do you think when they arrest somebody they arrest you on suspicion of said crime because they don’t have enough knowledge of the law and what is an arrestable offence as it is they have to arrest you on suspicion of then have cps lawyers tell them if they have a crime or not and you people are worried about the numbers of police officers, we could have a million they would all be as useless as the ones we have if they are learning on the job from the inept incompetent corrupt morons that we already have
Who don’t know how to do the job they need to be in police school for a couple years at least before they are supervised on the job for another couple years and they need to be taught the law what constitutes an offence and how the law is actually applied so they know when they have an offence so they can arrest somebody for the crime of not on suspicion of and all the cops in the world properly trained and knowledgeable or not are a waste of time unless the judicial system is overhauled so that works properly and actually punishes criminals instead of slaping them on the wrist or letting them free cos of their poor little civil rights and human rights things they willingly relinquish when they break the damn law
It seems anyone that wants to be a copper just needs to apply! Do you need a level of intelligence? How about even understanding the English language? I doubt it! One step away from mindless A.I robots. But of course that would never happen would it?