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'We have more police officers than ever', PCC says

Joe Griffin
Local Democracy Reporting Service
Steve Hubbard/BBC Darryl Preston who is wearing a grey suit, green tie and white shirt. He has no hair on the top of his head and short white hair on the sides. He is standing outside with a blurred out police van behind him on a road. Above him is blue sky with white clouds. Steve Hubbard/BBC
Darryl Preston's three-year police and crime plan is regularly scrutinised by 11 elected councillors and two independent members

A police force has "more officers in this county than we've ever had", according to its police and crime commissioner (PCC).

The Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Panel also heard there was "greater visibility of policing" in 20 crime hotspots thanks to a £1m government grant.

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough PCC Darryl Preston said: "The standard [officer] figure we use is 1,732, but at any one time we have actually got more than that."

The panel met on Monday at Engine Shed, Bittern Way, Peterborough, to review progress against Preston's three-year police and crime plan.

Joe Griffin/LDRS A meeting room Peterborough's Engine Shed. At least 10 women and men can be seen sitting in a horseshoe shape around tables with microphones around them. Behind them is a large window, opening into an interior hall or space in the building. Joe Griffin/LDRS
The councillors come from the local authorities across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough

The plan, which was endorsed in November last year and published in January, has five main priorities, with an overarching theme of "safe communities", as reported by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

'Trust and confidence'

Preston, who was re-elected as the county's Conservative PCC in May, said: "We do now have more police officers in this county than we've ever had.

"There is even more recruitment going on over the next couple of years as a result of the government's local guarantee pledge."

The report said officers clocked up more than 7,000 additional patrol hours and 50,000 community interactions.

Preston told the meeting he understood police officer visibility "is about trust and confidence - people want to see the police".

But he added that keeping people safe "is often not about police officers walking up and down the high street, this is about the work of all the fantastic police officers and staff in all those roles in policing".

The report also covered average 999 call answer times, which were three seconds in 2024 - down from 10 seconds in 2023.

Average answer times on 101 calls had also improved from 23 seconds last year to seven seconds in the 12 months to December 2024, according to the report.

Preston said: "I am pleased that this has improved [but] it has taken too long, frankly."

The meeting heard a new telephone system would soon be introduced.

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