More police on the beat in Bedfordshire as new training hubs rolled out - but more are still needed

Bedfordshire Police is set to benefit from around 300 extra pairs of boots on the ground.

The force was allocated additional funding to recruit the extra officers between 2019 and 2023 and has been full steam ahead with encouraging people to join a career in policing.

It’s part of the national Uplift programme to grow policing nationally by an extra 20,000 officers.

Chief Constable Trevor Rodenhurst said: “It is fantastic to see so many enthusiastic people coming into the force all eager to make a difference to the public of Bedfordshire. It has been a massive challenge as, due to retirements and transfers, we have had to recruit significant numbers of officers to grow the size of the force to 1,456 officers by the end of March.

“However, I want to emphasise that this isn’t about a numerical target, this is about recruiting people who are representative of our communities and who have the right values to be outstanding police officers.”

As a result of the force exceeding its recruitment target, there are currently 289 student officers in training. To ensure the highest standards, the force has created a Student Hub to give dedicated tutorship to new recruits.

Within the first six months of joining, officers move from initial training to working on the beat, which can be a daunting transition. The hub is a dedicated resource to support students in their first 15 weeks out on the beat.

In the hub, new officers work with a tutor so they can talk through each job and situation and get much needed support. They are also able to choose non-urgent jobs to attend that fit in best with what they need to learn and experience.

Inspector Tim Taylor, from the Student Hub, said “We found that when students are working at the same pace as response officers, they can get overwhelmed going job to job and not having time to talk and review what went well and what they can improve on. From there we have developed The Student Hub.

“This is a new process that we hope will help new recruits transition from a civilian to officer smoothly. Urgent calls for help will still be responded to as soon as we can.”

Student Officer Katrina Starbuck said: “The Student Hub has helped me transition from the classroom to patrol because we get time to talk through jobs, go through the different outcomes and help with the admin side of policing.

“It was a bit of a shock moving from initial training because we are dealing with real people who don’t react the same way as my cohort in role play scenarios.”

Home Office figures show there were 1,403 police officers for Bedfordshire in December 2022, up one per cent from 1,384 the year before.

As of December, 126 officers were recruited through the Uplift programme in Bedfordshire – 70 per cent of the target of 179 new officers in the area. A further 20 officers were hired through other means.

Bedfordshire Police is still actively recruiting. Visit www.beds.police.uk/careers to find your ideal policing route.