NORTH Yorkshire Police bosses are set to hit a long-held target of 1,400 frontline officers - numbers not seen since 2010.

In her first interview as chief constable in August last year, Lisa Winward told The Press that by March 31 the force "should have 1,400 officers”.

Despite numerous recruitment campaigns since 2010, the pledge - which was also made by Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Julia Mulligan when she took on the role in 2012 - has never been met, with staffing falling to less than 1,350 at times.

However, Ms Winward has now revealed that, thanks in part to a police precept increase, the force is due to meet its target within weeks.

She said: “The actual number of people working in the organisation is 1,379, however we have offered jobs to take that number to 1,401, who are coming at an agreed date so by the end of May, we will have 28 transferees coming and people we have offered jobs to.

“Student officers coming into the organisation take longer because of the recruitment process being much longer and selection process, interview and vetting, so we have done a blended approach to student officers and transferees to gain skills. We need that mix, fresh pairs of eyes and as of April this year we had offered positions to over 1,400 but physically don't have those numbers - actual officer numbers were 1,379.”

Projected figures seen by The Press show an intake of transferees, student officers and new recruits should see the ranks swell to 1,423 with 197 PCSOs in the first quarter of this financial year, with targets of 1,450 in the second quarter, 1,456 officers and 217 PCSOs in the third quarter, and 1,465 officers and 228 PCSOs by the end of April 2020.

The chief constable warned these numbers were subject to change, but she was keen to get as close to them as possible, and said the loss of officers in the meantime could not always be predicted and could affect future numbers.

Ms Winward said: “I truly believe that when we tell the public they are paying their taxes to assist us and deliver a service with 1,400 officers, we should have 1,400 officers, and should recruit in excess of that because we know attrition rate isn’t always predictable. We will go over 1,450 by January next year, but attrition rate is not predictable. Ill health, transferees to other forces or retention cannot always be predicted. During the year we always see greater attrition rate than just the people we expected to leave.

“One of the biggest things affecting officers now is stress and mental health. Ill health retirement over the last couple of years has unfortunately increased, and some of that means we’re now dealing with a lot more mental health concerns rather than physical injuries.

"Broken legs get fixed and people can come back to work. The regulations talk about retaining people if possible for them to do a policing job with physical injuries.

"But that’s not the case quite often with mental health, because once that’s fragile there aren’t many jobs as a police officer you can return to. More often than not they are retired from service because there’s no job you can give them where it won’t impact their mental health.”

While the projected figures will see a higher number than in recent years, Ms Winward said there was “a lot more we could do in policing if we had money and numbers but that’s the case in most worlds”, and while she was “incredibly proud” to have hit the long-held target of 1,400 officers, she believed “we should build on that”, and was “adamant we will get to the end of January 2020 and we will have 1,450”.