Police numbers are going DOWN, not up, in force that controls Milton Keynes, say councillors

The number of police officers in Thames Valley force has gone down over the past year, say councillors in MK.

They've accused the government of breaking its promise to provide 609 more officers for the force.

Analysis of Home Office statistics by the local Liberal Democrat group has shown that Thames Valley’s officer numbers actually fell by 29 over the past year.

And only 229 extra officers have been recruited by Thames Valley Police under the government’s campaign, that started in September 2019.

Thames Valley Police has so far recruited just eight more officers per month under the scheme. To meet the Conservatives' own target of 609 by March 2023, that rate would have to increase to 25 per month over the next 15 months.

The Liberal Democrats have slammed the government for failing to keep their promise to communities, adding that there needs to be a return to full and proper community policing.

Councillor Robin Bradburn, Lib Dem group leader on MK Council, said: “People in Milton Keynes are being let down and taken for granted by this Conservative Government. With so many local crimes going unsolved, we desperately need more police on our streets and in our communities."

He added: “Liberal Democrats are calling for a return to proper community policing, where officers are visible, trusted and known personally to local people.”

“The Conservatives’ pledge to boost police officer numbers looks set to become yet another of their broken promises. They are letting down victims of crime and our communities right across our area.”

A spokesman for Thames Valley police said the force was busy recruiting.

"“The National Police Uplift Programme presents a fantastic opportunity to increase the number of police officers across the Thames Valley. It will see us recruit an additional 598 officers by March 2023 who will significantly enhance our ability to prevent harm, investigate crime, support victims, bring offenders to justice and make our communities safer."

She added: “Thames Valley Police continues to attract a high number of applicants looking to serve their communities as Police Officers and to date (figures as at 31 December 2021) we have recruited 229 officers towards our Uplift target, achieving higher levels of diversity than at any previous time; with 14.2% of all new officers in the past twelve months coming from ethnically diverse backgrounds and in the same period 49.8% of our new recruits have been female.

“As we emerge from the pandemic the recruitment market nationally is buoyant and therefore challenging from a recruiters perspective. We are working hard to attract sufficient recruits to meet our 2021/22 targets and currently have over 1,650 applicants at various stages of the recruitment process. However we need to carefully forecast and monitor turnover as well as recruitment success in order to maintain our progress towards achieving this target.

“We are confident that we have robust plans in place to take full advantage of the opportunities provided by the Police Uplift Programme.”