Staffordshire to recruit 300 more police officers

Ben Adams said the force is "leading the way" in terms of female recruits

About 300 more police officers are to be recruited in Staffordshire over the next three years.

The county's Police, Fire and Crime commissioner Ben Adams said it represented a 20% increase on current numbers.

The total number of officers within Staffordshire Police is set to reach 2,000 within the next 18 months.

Mr Adams said the force was also "leading the way in terms of female recruits".

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said 54% of the force's most recent recruits were women.

"We're seeing some really capable young people, absolutely enthusiastic," Mr Adams said, adding there was "no shortage" of people wanting to join the recruitment programme.

It comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson said 20,000 new police officers would be recruited nationally over the next three years.

Mr Adams said area such as forensics could particularly benefit.

He said he was encouraged that the service would be more rounded as a result of the fresh intake and officers were focusing more on identifying crime early, and tackling issues such as online abuse and fraud.

Mr Adams has also recently taken on an additional role as head of the Staffordshire Safer Roads Partnership and called on more people to volunteer to support their local Community Speed Watch scheme, with aims to double the number of groups from 70 to around 140.

He also said he wanted to see more speed cameras across Staffordshire and to bring some that are out of service back into use.