The Force has recruited 149 new police officers as part of the Government’s pledge to boost numbers by 20,000 nationwide by 2023, according to the latest figures.
Data from the Home Office showed the Force had 1,797 frontline officers by the end of last month with new recruits joining under Boris Johnson’s uplift scheme.
Staffordshire is also one of eight forces to have recruited more women than men over the last year.
Branch chair Phil Jones said the rise in the number of officers was a welcome step in the right direction but warned the headcount was still much lower than pre-austerity numbers despite the recruitment drive.
>He said: “On a national level, the 20,000 uplift is welcome but in so many cases they are just replacing the officers we have lost.
“In actual terms, we are still considerably short of where we need to be. We need more officers so that we can be more proactive and get police officers to where they are needed.
>“In March 2010 we had 2,161 officers so we are still short of that figure and yet the demands on policing have by no means reduced. In fact, I would say we are under more pressure than ever and the pandemic has just added to that.”
Phil said higher public expectations of the police service combined with an increased post-pandemic workload had also put a strain on forces and individual officers and had to be taken into account.
He said: “We obviously welcome the increase in officer numbers and it is particularly good news that more women are joining up so that the Force can be truly representative of the communities we serve.
“But other factors do come into play and significant investment is required to create the effective, proactive force we are all striving to create and we need to ensure that we have a truly diverse workforce.”
He also pointed out the influx of new officers all have to be trained and tutored within the Force so it will be at least two years before they are fully effective particularly due to recruiting solely through the Policing Education Qualifications Framework which will delay the impact of any additional officers being felt on the frontline.
He added: “This uplift is a positive step in the right direction but much more is needed to be done.”
The figures published by the Home Office revealed a provisional headcount of 139,908 officers in England and Wales at the end of September with 11,053 recruited from funding for the Police Uplift Programme.
A further 421 additional officers have been recruited through other funding streams such as local council tax precepts.
