Policing in Peterborough to get £2m boost but Chief Constable warns 'immediate impact will not be felt'
Peterborough has benefitted from funding to resource Neighbourhood Policing Teams.
Cambridgeshire Constabulary’s Chief Constable Nick Dean has responded to the request of Peterborough MP Andrew Pakes for more police officers in the city centre.
In a letter, Mr Pakes urged the Chief Constable to put its share of the government’s £200m boost to resources for police forces in order to recruit neighbourhood policing teams to good use.
Cambridgeshire Police’s share of this money has now been confirmed to be £2m, which will allow two sergeants, 28 police constables and seven PCSOs within a year.
Mr Dean has, however, warned that it will take time to feel the benefits of this recruitment.
Chief Constable Dean said: “The funding formula greatly influences decisions beyond the yearly grant funding, and I, together with the Police and Crime Commissioner have lobbied hard for this formula to change and we remain committed to securing a fairer funding formula for the Constabulary.
“Criteria governs how I can use the allocation of funding for Neighbourhood Policing, but we have submitted an outline plan and currently await its approval.
Once this has been received we can begin implementation and recruitment. I am confident that I can recruit in line with our plan as I did with the 20K Uplift Programme; in fact, we achieved beyond our allocation of 206 additional officers.
“Our plan for the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee Year 1 introduces an additional two sergeants, 28 police constables and seven PCSOs.
“There will be additional officers allocated into Neighbourhood Policing Teams but an immediate impact will not be felt, because these officers and PCSOs have to be recruited and trained against a tight financial backdrop.
“I will be allocating these additional officers and PCSOs to Peterborough but also to the rest of the county, including Cambridge City.
“I have to balance a number of factors in the operational deployment of officers and staff across the whole of the county, but I am well aware of the challenges that Peterborough provides.
“My Neighbourhood Teams do their very best to deliver effective policing across Peterborough and a number of successful results have been achieved over the past 12 months.
“Crime has reduced over the past 12 months right across the county and I am not complacent in delivering against the Constabulary’s priorities and indeed delivering the Safer Streets Mission.”