The Mayor today welcomed new Metropolitan Police Service recruits as he visited trainees in Richmond set to become fully warranted police officers, which will boost London’s policing strength to 32,320 by the end of March 2012.
The centre is one of five regional MPS learning centres and students participate in a full foundation course, where they learn everything from search techniques, legislation and victim care.
Over 140 students are currently in training at the Metropolitan Police Service’s Training centre at Sovereign House in Richmond. Many of trainees are former PCSOs (Police Community Support Officers) who are converting to become police officers.
The Met Police are one of the only forces in the country to hire and increase its number of uniformed police officers after the Mayor successfully secured £90 million of additional government funding to help keep police numbers high in the capital. The funding is in recognition of the unique demands on the police in 2012 with the high profile events like the Olympic Games and the Queens Diamond Jubilee and follows the £42 million cash boost the Mayor gave the met in February 2011.
The Mayor Boris Johnson said: "London needs high levels of police officers on hand to manage the many unique challenges we face in the capital. With careful negotiation and budgeting we have managed to buck the national trend and continue to recruit more uniformed fully warranted police officers.
"By the end of my mayoralty we will have 32,320 full-time warranted police officers - significantly more than I inherited, which is great news for the ongoing fight against crime."
Since January over 700 new recruits have raised the total number of officers in the capital to 31,760. Additional government funding has secured a further 160 transferees and a further 400 current police community support officers boosting the projected strength of the Met to 32,320 by March 31st 2012.