Dorset Police 2024

Dorset Police welcomed hundreds of new police officers between 2019 and 2023 as part of the national Uplift programme, injecting much-needed resources to frontline teams. The Force recruited a total of 174 new police officers as part of the programme, which was eight officers above the allocation set by the Government.

It was the biggest recruitment drive in the Force’s history and was in addition to the normal annual officer recruitment required to replace colleagues who had resigned, retired or left the Force. We are delighted that we have been able to sustain our recruitment drive in subsequent years.

These new recruits form a key part of helping us to be visible and connected with our communities, which is one of our six priorities to deliver exceptional local policing.

While a number of these officers are still going through their training, there are many who are already in operational roles, making a real difference in our communities and helping to deliver our vision of making Dorset safe for everyone. The majority of the officers recruited have been allocated to response and neighbourhood policing, while others will boost resources in critical safeguarding and investigation roles, in addition to teams dedicated to missing persons, sexual offences and rural crime.

During our ongoing recruitment, the Force has continued to focus on increasing diversity thanks to its Positive Action programme and other initiatives. Since 2019 there has been an increase in officers identifying as white non-British and Black, Asian, or ethnically diverse. We have also welcomed more women into policing.

Following the Uplift programme, the Force remained committed to sustaining police officer numbers and we successfully recruited a further 125 officers up to the end of March 2024.

Key facts

We’ve recruited 174 additional police officers as part of the Government’s national Uplift programme

Thanks to the government's Uplift programme and other initiatives we are proud to have increased the diversity of our workforce.

Since 2019 we have increased officers identifying as:

• White non-British by 11 (16 - 27)
• Black, Asian, or ethnically diverse by 19 (20 - 39)
• Female officers by 90 (382 to 472)