A North East crime commissioner has called for a "level playing field" on policing after it emerged forces in the region have been able to recruit a much smaller number of their lost officers than their southern counterparts.
Northumbria's Labour police and crime commissioner Kim McGuinness challenged the Home Secretary this week over recruitment figures which show some southern forces pushing past 2010 police officer levels, while those in the North are being held back.
In Essex last week, 74 new officers swore their oath to the king and swelled the local force's numbers to the highest total in its 182-year history. And it's a similar story in Cambridgeshire, which now has 1,671 officers, the highest in its history.
But further north the picture is much less rosy, despite the promises by Boris Johnson at the last election to keep communities safer with a massive nationwide recruitment drive to make up for the officers lost to austerity cuts.
As reported in The Northern Agenda politics newsletter, the most recent government workforce figures show the stark regional divide as southern police forces are able to use their greater council tax bases to aid recruitment.
In March this year Northumbria Police had 3,480 officers available for duty, compared with 4,121 in March 2010, a fall of 641. Durham and Cleveland police also have hundreds fewer officers than they did when austerity cuts hit.
In comparison Surrey had 2,039 officers this March compared with 1,835 12 years ago, and Cambridgeshire 1,590 compared with 1,443.
According to Ms McGuinness, during the first decade of Government austerity Northumbria Police lost more than 1,100 officers as a result of Home Office cuts.
A new Government-funded recruitment campaign was set up to replace these nationally, but Northumbria was only allocated the funds for a maximum of 615 additional recruits.
Northumbria Police has 12% fewer officers than it did in 2010 and analysis by Ms McGuinness's office suggest the North East has been the hardest-hit region, with 15% fewer officers than 12 years ago compared with a national difference of 7%. She says North East and North West forces have 9.8% fewer officers than 2010, whilst the South East & South West forces have only 0.8% fewer.
In a direct question to Home Secretary Suella Braverman at a policing conference in London, the police commissioner asked her to explain this emerging North-South divide in police funding and called for “a level playing field” so all forces had the chance to see a full replacement of lost officers.
Ms McGuinness said: “The Government owes the people of Northumberland, Tyne and Wear another 485 officers and ministers are refusing to hand over the funds.
“And as if that wasn’t bad enough, we now see that some forces are able to boast of having smashed historic officer numbers. Just look at the likes of Essex and Cambridgeshire – more officers now than at any other time in their forces’ history.
“Now, some of this will come from a variety of means, but if a southern force can find the money to fund more police officers – presumably from local council tax payers - then they clearly don’t need extra Government funds.
“The Home Office must implement a fair system based on need, so all police forces can finally return to their pre-austerity recruitment numbers. My message to the Home Secretary is clear; give us back our cops.”
Speaking in response to the question at the QE II conference centre in London, the Home Secretary said that “if there is disparity this would need to be looked at”.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Our absolute priority is cutting crime and making our streets safer, and we are providing police forces the resources they need to do this.
“We are injecting record funds into policing and giving officers the support, training and powers they need to crack down on crime. As at 30 September 2022, Northumbria Police has recruited 469 additional uplift officers against a total three year allocation of 615 officers.”
Listen to The Northern Agenda podcast to find out how primary school children are being targeted by drugs gangs
