Police chief putting more officers on the beat

Devon and Cornwall Police Chief Constable James Vaughan said he wanted to maintain its frontline strength

A police chief has said he wants to "stabilise patrol numbers" by getting more than 100 additional officers on the beat.

Devon and Cornwall chief constable James Vaughan said 121 officers were being added to patrol teams, with 71 officers joining existing patrol teams by the end of 2025, along with another 50 by the end of March.

Mr Vaughan, who will address the Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Panel meeting in Plymouth later, said the officers were new recruits and personnel redeployed from other parts of the force or from different forces.

He said the force would also add 50 officers to neighbourhood policing roles and was in the process of recruiting 50 Police Community Support Officers.

Mr Vaughan said he was committed to building the number of officers in frontline roles.

"We know that once we have stabilised our patrol numbers we will need to continue to maintain our frontline strength across the force," Mr Vaughan said.

"Therefore, we are doing additional work that will help us to ensure that our resources are in the right place both now and in the future."

Alison Hernandez, the force's police and crime commissioner, said she was delighted with the plans to increase officer numbers.

"The one thing people repeatedly tell me is that they want to see more police on our streets to make them feel safer and deter crimes from taking place," Hernandez said.