An additional 2,000 police officers are urgently needed over the next three years.

At the Police Federation’s Annual Conference in Bournemouth, Chairman Paul McKeever announced to the government its need for 2,000 extra police officers to fight crime.

On the opening day of the conference (12 May), the Chairman of the Police Federation said: “With crime rates set to increase as the recession deepens, politicians of all parties need to sit up and take notice of this Police Federation research which clearly shows that the resilience of the service will be damaged unless police officer strength is increased over the next three years.”

The Federation’s research showed that an additional 2,000 police officers over the next three years is urgently needed if the police are to maintain the current level of service, let alone deal with the predicted increase in property crime rates as the recession deepens.

McKeever continued:  “We must not lose sight that we will also be policing the biggest sporting event this country has handled in 2012, when the Olympics comes to the UK. How we are expected to deal with the demands this will place upon the service, in addition to the increasing property crime rates with fewer officers per head of the population, is beyond me.

“My real fear is that the level of service and protection we will be able to afford the public will be severely affected unless action to address this is taken now.”

During a recession, research has shown that crime increases – and the Federation suggests that in the current economic climate an increase of nearly 25% is expected in the next two years.  

This is coupled with the falling number of police officers since 2006 – reducing from 260 to 254 per 100,000 of the population, with constables falling from 204 to 198. If this trend continues over the next three years to 2012 then the relative number of police officers per 100,000 of the population will decline even further to 251 and constables down to 193.

Furthermore, Paul Ginger, Chairman of the Inspectors’ Central Committee named four forces –Metropolitan, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire and Thames Valley – that have ignored recommendations that would make a significant difference to the lives of senior officers.