Merseyside Police will recruit 160 extra police officers this year after a decade of budget cuts.
Police and Crime Commissioner, Jane Kennedy, has had budget plans approved by the Police and Crime Panel today which will see a the total number of officers once again top 4,000.
Budget proposals were endorsed in a meeting with members of the region’s Police and Crime Panel to increase the force’s Council Tax by £10 a year on resident’s properties.
Following a public consultation undertaken by the Police Commissioner, 1,601 of people gave their support for plans to rebuild the numbers of frontline police officers, with more than 1,292 saying they were willing to contribute more in police precept.
Ms Kennedy said: “Over the last year and with a lot of careful financial planning we have been able to accelerate the force’s recruitment drive to bring in 500 new officers, who are now trained and on the streets of Merseyside preventing crime, protecting the public and maintaining public safety.
“Now, with the support of local people and the Merseyside Police and Crime Panel, we can grow officer numbers by a further 160, which means that by the end of March next year Merseyside Police will once again have more than 4,000 officers.”
The Commissioner’s proposal to increase the police precept came after the government released its financial settlement in December, which included an expectation from ministers that local people would contribute more towards policing.
Now the Police and Crime Panel have approved the Commissioner’s plans, they say she will ask the region’s local authorities to implement the increase, which will come into effect from April 1, 2021.
Jane said: “Merseyside Police was incredibly hard hit by government cuts over the last decade.
"We lost more than a quarter of our officers - 1,110 in total.
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“Now we have turned a corner on austerity, the Chief Constable and I are doing everything we can to rebuild the Force, returning the organisation toward its former strength and ensuring it is in the best possible position to keep our communities safe.
“While we are still some way off the numbers we had in 2010, this is still good news for Merseyside and I want to pass on my heartfelt thanks to the public and to Panel members for once again showing their support for their local force.
“I know it was a tough ask in a year which has brought much hardship and distress, but by giving me their backing they have played their part in making our streets safer.”
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