Celebrating extra officers for Derbyshire

Chief Constable Rachel Swann and Police and Crime Commissioner Angelique Foster were joined by PC Nathan Todd at 10 Downing Street on Wednesday, to celebrate the extra officers now keeping the people of Derbyshire safe.

PC Todd, from the Safer Neighbourhood Team in Buxton, was one of hundreds of officers to join Derbyshire Constabulary during Operation Uplift, a national drive to recruit 20,000 extra police officers.

He was asked to attend Number 10 after being chosen as the force’s student officer of the year last year.

Operation Uplift ran between April 2020 and April 2023, and happened in addition to the normal recruitment undertaken every year to replace people retiring or leaving the force, resulting in 337 extra police officers in Derbyshire.

Chief Constable Swann said: “It was an honour to share this moment with PC Todd and Commissioner Angelique Foster, and to recognise all the hard work which went into securing these extra officers for Derbyshire.

“Policing opens up so many opportunities and I am sure being able to visit 10 Downing Street is a moment PC Todd and his family can be proud of.

“Our communities have long wanted to see more officers, and while modern policing means lots of our work happens behind the scenes, people can rest assured that there are now more officers working to keep them safe than we have seen for many years.

“I am committed to maintaining the number of officers and am working to secure additional funding from the Home Office to ensure we can continue to benefit from this extra resource into the next year.”

Commissioner Angelique Foster said: “I am pleased that the hard work to meet our recruitment target as part of the Uplift programme has been recognised.  These extra officers are now helping to deliver the strong local policing that Derbyshire communities want to receive.

“I know that the Chief Constable, Rachel Swann and her team have been fully committed and have worked hard to recruit these additional officers as well as deliver on the key policing priorities for Derbyshire and Derby City, as set out in my Police and Crime Plan. This was a good opportunity to recognise these achievements and I was pleased to see one of our officers, PC Todd, attend on behalf of all our newly recruited officers.”