Hampshire Constabulary announces new plans for recruitment

In an open letter to the future police officers of Hampshire and Isle of Wight, Chief Constable Olivia Pinkney has urged a next generation of officers to make the most of this opportunity and sign up.

As a nationwide campaign to recruit 20,000 police officers gets underway, Hampshire Constabulary’s most senior police officer has highlighted the need to keep ahead of criminals by bringing in extra officers, new skills, and greater diversity. This will complement the experience and commitment of current staff and officers.

The plans mean extra training courses being laid on for detectives in the first phase. It has also been announced that a campaign to attract additional uniformed officers will also go live before the end of the year. These are in both in addition to all current police officer recruitment plans.

Assistant Chief Constable Craig Dibdin, who is leading the Hampshire Constabulary uplift plans, said: “We have an opportunity to increase our police officer numbers in a way that we did not think would be possible. This is great news for our communities.

“What we have to do is to make the most of this opportunity. We must get on with it, and what we are able to do immediately is to bring in extra detectives. We are expecting high demand so I would encourage anyone interested to get in quickly as the initial application window may not be open for very long.

“Later in the year we will also open up wider recruitment for uniformed officers. We haven’t yet had the exact numbers confirmed by the Home Office but what we are clear on is that our objective is not just to increase numbers. It is for us to use this opportunity to become ever more representative of the communities we serve, resilient and digitally savvy.”

• Other officer recruitment plans

A number of uniformed police officer training courses are already underway as part of previous recruitment plans. The force also has a pipeline of applicants waiting to be trained as uniformed police officers. With the extra uplift this will not be enough, requiring the force to recruit again later in 2019.

The force is also currently recruiting to police staff roles, including detention officers.

• Please read the letter from Chief Constable Pinkney below: