Staffordshire Police recruiting more women with 44 per cent of 584 new recruits female
Staffordshire Police have welcomed new Home Office figures which show the force is hiring more women officers than ever before.
The Government pledged to hire 20,000 new officers by March 2023 after complaints austerity cuts had gone to far and was putting too much pressure on serving officers.
For its contribution to the national total Staffordshire Police recruited 584 new officers between November 2019 and December 2022.
The number of women serving in Staffordshire is the highest recorded, in December 646 officers out of the total workforce of 1,879 were female.
In the recruitment drive 216 women joined alongside 274 men, which meant 44 per cent of new recruits are female, while a total of 5.3 per cent of new officers were from an ethnic minority, up from the previous recorded level of 3.5 per cent.
Staffordshire Police have acknowledged there "is more to do" to ensure its ranks represent the communities they serve.
Chief Constable, Chris Noble, said: “I am pleased that these figures reflect the continual work we are doing in Staffordshire to recruit and retain new officers.
“Though I acknowledge there is still a significant amount of work to do to meet our local targets, we are on track to meet the government’s national 20,000 new officers’ recruitment aim by April 2023.
“The recruitment of new officers remains a priority for us and we will continue to do all we can to ensure we attract the right people to the right posts and retain them for fruitful and successful careers in the future.”
Staffordshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, Ben Adams, said: “Staffordshire Police continue to make excellent progress with their officer recruitment programme, and are on course to not only achieve their targets but exceed them in 2023.
“This is great news for the people of Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent, who tell me that they want to see more officers in their communities, more visible and more responsive, and dealing with the issues that matter to them.”
The Government has worked with Chief Constables and the College of Policing to modernise, standardise and improve the recruitment process to ensure better officers are hired who will stay in the job longer.
