Cumbria Police bids to recruit 84 officers

Cumbria Police is launching a recruitment drive for 84 officers despite needing to find £10m savings.

The force is planning to reduce overall officer numbers in the next few years to help reach that target.

But it said that because they will lose some staff through natural wastage, such as retirement, there is still a need to recruit.

It is planning to take on 72 full-time officers and attract a dozen who are already working for other forces.

It is holding application events in Barrow, Workington and Carlisle.

There are currently just over 1,100 full-time or equivalent officers employed by the force.

The announcement of the recruitment drive comes just over a week after Cumbria's police and crime commissioner, Richard Rhodes, pushed through his proposals to increase the amount of funding the force receives through Council Tax by 1.93%.

That decision means people living in a band D property will have to pay £3.96 a year more to the force each year.

Mr Rhodes said the increase was necessary in order to give the chief constable "the operational capacity to keep fighting crime".