GMP to recruit 50 more police officers

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) will recruit up to 250 new staff, including 50 police officers over the next year, causing council tax to rise.

The move was announced by Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Lloyd as part of his budget spending plans for GMP.

Mr Lloyd said the "modest increase" would cost the average household slightly over an extra penny a day.

GMP had its budget reduced by 20% between 2010-15 by central government, forcing about 3,000 posts to be lost.

Mr Lloyd said: "I've tried to do what we can to protect the service to make sure that we can maintain policing standards and to make sure that we are not simply seeing an ageing police force as the older officers retire.

"We still will be losing police staff, but if you carry on only losing staff and don't recruit at the other end, you simply have an ageing cohort of police officers."

"We should be recruiting 150 to 200 police officers each year - we simply will be recruiting 50 because of the government's austerity package and the government have to accept responsibility for that," he said.

The number of apprentices being taken on by the force during 2013-2014 will also increase from 22 to 50.

Budget changes include paying for 70 new neighbourhood policing support staff, 50 investigative assistants and 30 radio operators.

A pool of experienced retired detectives will also support specialist investigations.

Sir Peter Fahy, Chief Constable of GMP, said: "The force has been through a very difficult time with the loss of so many dedicated staff and so much change required to cope with the budget reductions.

"We need this increase in the council tax to keep our operational officers out on the streets protecting the public and fighting crime, but even with this increase we will still face a reduction in staff overall."

"We know the coming years will not be any easier, but this budget will help the force to maintain the reduction in crime and ensure we concentrate maximum effort on what matters to local people," he said.