MORE than 600 new officers joined Northumbria Police in less than four years, exceeding government recruitment targets.

Forces across the country were given recruitment targets to achieve from September 2019 to March this year in what was known as the ‘uplift’ programme.

For Northumbria, that meant increasing the officer headcount from 3,129 to 3,744 within this timescale. Not only has the force achieved the uplift target, but it has also exceeded it.

Many the additional officers have now completed their training and more of them are on their way towards becoming fully-fledged officers, serving alongside their committed colleagues.

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Chief constable Winton Keenen, QPM, DL, said: “We are delighted to welcome our new officers. They are an absolutely vital addition to Northumbria Police and this really is great news for our local communities.

“Despite the financial challenges we continue to face, we recognise there is an essential need to recruit as many additional officers as possible. This is why we have taken the bold decision to commit to recruiting additional numbers of officers that will take us over and above the target which was set by the government.

“Despite such commitment, it must be recognised we remain considerably below the previous level of officer numbers we enjoyed prior to the successive reductions in funding we experienced towards policing over recent years. As such, there is a very real need for further, sustained investment in policing – so as to ensure we are able to meet modern-day demands and provide the levels of service our communities deserve.”