Prime Minister Announces 20,000 New Police Officers

The Prime Minister has announced an additional 20,000 police officers, with the recruitment process set to start within a few weeks.

Addressing the House of Commons for his first time as Prime Minister, The Rt. Hon. Boris Johnson MP said: "As I said on the steps of Downing Street this week, my job as Prime Minister is to make our streets safer.

"People want to see more officers in their neighbourhoods, protecting the public and cutting crime.

"I promised 20,000 extra officers and that recruitment will now start in earnest."

A new national policing board will be established to oversee the recruitment drive, with the Home Office given responsibility for hitting the target.

Home Secretary, The Rt. Hon. Priti Patel MP, said: "Officers up and down the country put themselves in danger every day to keep us safe, they deserve our support.

"The rise we’ve seen in serious violence is deeply worrying. An additional 20,000 officers sends a clear message that we are committed to giving police the resources they need to tackle the scourge of crime.

"This is the start of a new relationship between the Government and the police working even more closely together to protect the public."

Between March 2010 and March 2018 the number of police officers in England and Wales fell by 21,732, resulting in the lowest numbers since 1981.

Numbers of police community support officers (PCSOs), who patrol the streets, have fallen by nearly 40% during this period, from 16,688 in 2010 to 10,139 in 2018.

Chief Constable Mike Cunningham, chief executive of the College of Policing, warned of a "wide variety of logistical challenges that come with the recruitment process".

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he said the challenge was "not just getting people through the doors, but the assessment process, the attraction, recruitment campaigns, the vetting, and then of course training people, making sure they are fit for the responsibilities that they have".

Also speaking on the Today programme Kit Malthouse MP, the Minister of State for Policing, said that the target was "achievable", but conceded it was "a logistical challenge for all of us".