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Police recruitment campaign
20/10/2008
New recruits were welcomed to two of Scotland's police forces by Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill today.
Since March 2007 the number of police officers in Northern Constabulary has increased by 25, to 732 officers. And in Grampian the numbers have increased by 92, giving the force 1,466 police officers.
Mr MacAskill said:
"The Scottish Government is committed to a greater visible police presence, deterring crime and reassuring our citizens.
"This increase in the number of officers in the Grampian and Northern forces is in part the result of our direct recruitment of new officers and against a backdrop of a large number of retirals.
"Last year, as we promised, 150 officers were recruited and paid for by the Scottish Government for our police forces and are currently working in Scotland's communities.
"This year we are directly funding the recruitment of another 450 over and above forces' previous plans, some of which will further help swell the ranks of the Grampian and Northern forces.
"We inherited the lowest recruitment since devolution with many officers due to retire. We've tackled that challenge head on and we are confident that the resources and policies now in place will deliver improved policing for Scotland.
"We have set out plans to deliver a more visible policing presence on Scotland's streets and make an additional 1,000 officers available in our communities. We are not just delivering on this but going substantially beyond, by also looking at recruitment, retention and redeployment."
The Finance Secretary announced in January 2008 an extra £40 million would be made available over the next three years for policing. This is in addition to the £54 million which was announced in November 2007. This will result in the recruitment of 1,000 additional officers by the end of March 2011.
In addition to the 150 additional recruits which were recruited in 2007/08, a further 450 additional officers will be recruited by the end of this financial year, 200 additional officers in 2009/10 and 200 in 2010/11. This will bring the total number of additional recruits to 1,000 over the life of this Parliament.
Grampian will receive 98 of the 1000 additional officers. They have already recruited 14 additional officers in 2007/08 and will be recruiting 44 this year and a further 20 in each of the following two years.
Northern will receive 54 of the 1000 additional officers. They have already recruited eight additional officers in 2007/08 and will be recruiting 24 this year and a further 11 in each of the following two years.