Strathclyde Police Freezes Recruitment of Officers and Staff

As a result of the ongoing uncertainty surrounding public sector budgets, Strathclyde Police has decided to freeze recruitment for both police officers and police staff.

The freeze on police staff takes effect immediately, while the recruitment of officers will be suspended after the current intake of 65 probationary officers enter the Scottish Police College this month.

A planned intake of 100 probationary officers to the college between August and October will now not go ahead - and all of those affected are being informed of the decision. Thirty of those who have completed the recruitment process will now be placed in an 'approved for appointment' pool and may be called upon if and when suitable vacancies arise.

In the past two years, Strathclyde Police has recruited unprecedented levels of police officers. The Force now has over 8000 officers and has seen a sharp rise in the number of police officers serving in community policing teams on the front line. Two years ago there were 500 community officers, today there are more than 1500.

John Gillies, Director of Human Resources said:

"The public sector is facing an unprecedented period of financial challenge and Scottish policing is not going to be immune to that. While we don't know exactly the scale of the cuts that we will be facing, early indications are that it could be anywhere up to ten percent of our budget in the next financial year. We have to prepare for that.

"We have more or less stopped recruiting police staff over the past few months and today we are formalising that. We also have to be realistic about the number of officers we can afford to recruit at this time of uncertainty.

"In the past couple of years we have seen a massive expansion in police officer numbers. This has allowed us to get more cops out onto our streets and into our communities. Protecting these front line services will be our absolute priority as we move forward with our plans to meet the challenges that lie ahead."