THE gap between soaring levels of new police staff in North Yorkshire and the number of extra bobbies recruited was revealed today.

The Police Federation said it had discovered the force took on 776 additional personnel for duties other than frontline policing between 2000 and 2009, a rise of 158 per cent.

But at the same time, North Yorkshire Police upped its tally of officers by only 152, representing a 12 per cent increase, The federation said civilians now accounted for 47 per cent of the force’s total workforce, compared with 28 per cent a decade ago.

It claimed if the trend continued, the number of civilian staff could eventually outstrip the number of officers, putting communities at risk.

Its findings showed the force had 1,435 officers and 1,268 staff, including police community support officers and forensic science and fingerprinting experts, as well as those employed in IT, human resources, finance and administration, when the study was carried out last year.

Mark Botham, chairman of North Yorkshire Police Federation, said: “It is alarming that there is no tangible evidence which even suggests, let alone proves, the value brought by civilianising increasing numbers of police officer posts.

“At a time of financial restraint, a rise in police staff numbers is absolute nonsense when the public want more police officers on the beat and available in emergency situations when needed. Britain has a new Government and a new Parliament. Now is the time to stop this uncoordinated and ill-constructed plan which will destroy the police service in England and Wales, to implement a full independent review and to have the courage to ask the public what they actually want and expect from their police service.”

The figures, obtained from the Home Office, also showed the number of North Yorkshire Police officers fell by 125 between 2008 and 2009, at the same time as staff numbers rose by nine.


‘Changes positive’

NORTH Yorkshire’s most senior officer said the findings from the report reflected positive changes within the force.

Chief Constable Grahame Maxwell said since police community support officers were introduced eight years ago it had helped free up police officers for other duties.

“Many roles can be carried out by civilian members of staff and it makes sense to fill these positions with properly qualified people, thereby releasing police officers for frontline duty where their warranted powers are needed,” he said. “In 2002 we saw the introduction of PCSOs who are an integral part of the policing service, playing a vital role in community engagement, crime prevention and reassurance.”