Lincolnshire Police to recruit more than 100 officers

Quicker response times and more officers on the street are priorities for the Lincolncshire force

More police officers and quicker response times are some of the priorities for Lincolnshire Police, its chief constable has said.

A five-year plan has been outlined by Chris Haward with 108 officers set to join the force before March 2022.

Their priority will be to target rural crime, online exploitation of children and boost neighbourhood policing.

Mr Haward said he wanted to make Lincolnshire the "safest place in the country to live, work and visit".

Lincolnshire Police would focus on stopping crime and anti-social behaviour, protecting people from harm and helping those in need.

Mr Haward said he didn't want to "overcomplicate" policing with the force trying to do too many things and achieving very little.

Chris Haward joined Lincolnshire Police in December 2020

He said the force would focus on re-establishing a roads policing unit, a new rural crime team, bringing in more officers for neighbourhood policing and more officers for the paedophile online investigation team.

The chief constable has been in the role since December and said the last few months has been a "look, listen, learn and assess" period.

Asking the community to be patient, Mr Haward said people should "see and feel" the difference in the next two years.

The additional police officers are being recruited following a government announcement in 2019.

Lincolnshire Police has 1,073 police officers - the fewest per 100,000 people in England, according to government data.

The force has seen staffing numbers decline since 2004 when it had 1,241 full time equivalent officers tackling crime.