Gloucestershire Police to recruit hundreds of officers and staff

Chief Constable Rod Hansen said the recruitment drive would help address issues raised in the report

A police force is to recruit hundreds of officers and staff to help address the issues which led to it being criticised in an inspection.

Gloucestershire Police was graded inadequate in five out of 10 key performance indicators in a report.

Chief Constable Rod Hansen said the force will be recruiting 300 police officers and 103 staff.

"The resources that are coming are welcome. We are recruiting them as we speak," he said.

In a report released last week, Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services raised concerns about the overall performance of the force.

Mr Hansen said there were also lots of examples of very good and innovative practice identified in report

It was found to be failing in victim support and how it investigates crimes.

Domestic abuse crimes were also of "particular concern" with 77% of a sample of 30 cases closed due to lack of evidence or victims withdrawing.

Mr Hansen called the situation a "crisis" and said it was being treated as a critical incident, and the recruitment drive will help address the issues.

He added: "The 103 additional police staff will be broadly split between half of them going into the force control room so that we can answer calls in a timely way.

National shortage

"The other half will be going into a crime standards bureau. We just need to make sure the right people with the right training and the right understanding are in those roles."

He told the police and crime panel on Wednesday the 300 police officers being recruited would be used to bolster areas where the force is vulnerable, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

"There is a national shortage of detectives, there is a national shortage of firearms officers and somehow we've got to cover those bases," he added.