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Challenges and opportunities in achieving operational uplift

Published by Skills for Justice

Date 24.10.19

Published by Skills for Justice

Date 24.10.19

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With the ambitious uplift for frontline police officers of 20,000 new officers over the next three years gaining pace this blog considers some of the people challenges and opportunities afforded by this initiative. Policing numbers are at their lowest since the 1980’s and the initiative to recruit 6,000, new officers by April 2020 and then 7,000 for the following two years, in addition to recruiting to fill current existing vacancies, has been widely welcomed. With the House of Commons library giving figures of 120,000 full time equivalent officers (not including British Transport Police, those on long term leave and secondment) with around 104,000 frontline officers the uplift equates to around a 20% increase in frontline police numbers with the majority of these expected to be new, and young, recruits.

Chief Constable Mike Cunningham, College of Policing CEO is clear that the recruitment drive is a huge opportunity and a significant challenge and training for the job is being updated to match the ever-increasing complexity of policing in todays world. In addition to this Richard Thwaite, managing partner of Chaucer Digital, writes in Policing Insight highlighting the significant need for investment in; back end technology, digital tools and the training to work in a sophisticated manner in joining these up, to support the new recruits to tackle the real problems of serious and on-line crime. Indeed, the question of where ‘the frontline’ of policing currently is, is a fascinating and ever developing one.

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