THE number of officers within North Yorkshire Police was at its lowest in almost a decade in the run up to this year’s Police and Crime Commissioner election.
In January, the force had 1,343 officers, but figures released this week revealed that by March that number had fallen to 1,333 - in 2012, NYP had 1,423 officers, while in 2010, there were 1,478 and in 2007 there were 1,650.
Since then, the force confirmed nine student officers had been introduced to the region, and as their salaries are lower than the lost officers, this will save the force £300,000.
A force spokeswoman said upcoming recruitment campaigns still aimed to increase officer numbers to 1,400 and PCSO numbers to 200 by 2018.
The North Yorkshire Police spokeswoman said the force was “pleased with the level of response we have received to both of the recruitment campaigns run earlier this year for Student Officers and Police Community Support Officers”.
While the spokeswoman could not confirm the number of applications received, she said NYP was “on a good path” to meet their two-year recruitment target.
She said: “The number of applications received from high quality candidates means that we will have sufficient numbers to satisfy our intake requirements for this year.
“We are now looking forward to our Specials recruitment window opening on October 10. We are looking for people who have a real passion for serving the public, with proven life experience and customer service skills to come forward and apply.”
North Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Julia Mulligan said: “I’m pleased to say that as a consequence of a number of internal and external recruitment campaigns earlier this year, we are on track with our plans and new recruits are currently being assessed and trained.
“What’s more, we attracted a very high number of extremely strong candidates. As a consequence, we are currently recruiting from this pool of applicants and are on course to boost numbers of both officers and PCSOs significantly during the current financial year.”
To find out more about becoming a Special Constable, go to northyorkshire.police.uk/jobs/special-constables
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