DORSET Police has recruited an extra 113 student police officers as part of a national programme.
In 2019 the Government announced plans to recruit an extra 20,000 officers over three years and by the end of September 2022 a total of 15,343 additional officers have been recruited by police forces across England and Wales.
In Dorset the Uplift programme funding injection meant the Force needed to recruit an additional 166 police officers by the end of March 2023, with 113 joining in total at the end of September 2022. This recruitment is on top of existing planned recruitment and intakes are already planned for the coming five months to enable the Force to meet this target.
Dorset has recruited officers by a variety of entry routes, including the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship, Degree Holder Entry Programme, Detective Degree Holder Entry Programme, as well as a number of officers re-joining the service and transferring to Dorset from other forces.
There has also been an increase in the number of women in policing, which has now reached more than 50,000 for the first time since records began.
In Dorset women now make up 37.5 per cent of police officers in the county, and since April 2020 a total of 43.8 per cent of new joiners to the Force identify as female.
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