Police and Crime Commissioner for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, Donna Jones, has reaffirmed her commitment to increasing police officer numbers following new Home Office statistics showing a national decline.
Despite the national picture, officer numbers for Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary continue to grow.
Police and Crime Commissioner Donna Jones says this has been achieved despite reduced central Government funding allocations.
The Commissioner has said:
“The government is putting communities at risk. Police officer numbers are falling up and down the country. There is insufficient funding and support from the Home Office.
“However, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight is bucking the national trend.
“Whilst police officer numbers across the country have dropped by a staggering amount, I’ve made police recruitment and funding more police officers my number one priority every year since I’ve been the PCC.
“This week I’ve published the police budget for the year ahead. This includes growing officer numbers by a further 36 for Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary. A total of 851 more police officers have been funded since I’ve been in post, almost a third more than when I arrived.
Article continues below this advertisement “This financial year, the government reduced the funding expected for Hampshire & Isle of Wight residents, meaning local tax payers are picking up the costs for police visibility.
“I intend to make this case to the government today; policing requires sustainable long‑term funding to ensure policing services remain equipped to meet the growing demand and keep communities safe.”
Home Office data published this week indicates a national net fall of 1,318 full‑time equivalent (FTE) police officers in the past 12 months. While 24 forces across England and Wales recorded year‑on‑year increases. This was outweighed by reductions across the remaining 19 forces, amounting to a loss of 1,775 officers nationally.
The highest number of police officers was recorded in March 2024.
I wonder if the reduced number is because of no job satisfaction due to the courts not using all the sentencing powers that they have available. They have all had the memo, do not send anyone to prison, there is no room.
It’s still less than the figures back in 2010 prior to the decimation of services and elimination of public access to police stations through front desk closures.
It would also be interesting to know just how many (if any at all) actually ended up here on the island.
A quick analysis of the stats on the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary website community teams section shows the following breakdown of staff:
Inspector 2 Sergeant 3 Local Bobby 6 Constable 3 PCSO 15 Total 29 (Although Newport does seem to be listing one PCSO twice.)
Breaking it down by region allocated officers work out as:
Cowes 6 East Cowes and Wooton 8 Newport 8 Ryde 8 Sandown and Lake 4 Shanklin and Ventnor 5 Wight Rural East 7 Rural Wight South 4 Rural Wight West 5
Note that most officers are shared between multiple areas and each area has an inspector and a sergeant both shared with several areas.
Even so, that does beg the question why Sandown’s team is one of the smallest on the island with just one PCSO and one Constable despite having the third highest crime total last year and well publicised local issues:
Cowes 720 East Cowes and Wooton 807 Newport 3572 Ryde 2166 Sandown and Lake 1347 Shanklin and Ventnor 1206 Wight Rural East 699 Rural Wight South 509 Rural Wight West 731
With all the numpties on the island we need more
police now than ever.
Who doesn’t mind paying more council tax if it goes
towards recruiting more Police.