The promise of new neighbourhood focussed police officers for Suffolk by the Government has been met with a lukewarm reaction from a group representing serving officers.
Labour's plans to have 26 "named and contactable" new officers by the end of April 2026 has led to accusations of "robbing Peter to pay Paul".
On Friday, it was announced that from July, every neighbourhood in Suffolk will have new officers in place as part of the Government's investment into more visible policing
Thanks to a £200million investment, 3,000 additional staff in neighbourhood roles will be in place by the end of April next year, with Suffolk set to benefit from 26 of these.
Yvette Cooper, the home secretary said: "The heartbeat of our Great British policing tradition is seeing bobbies on the beat but for too long, communities have been feeling abandoned as crime soars. Too many communities no longer feel safe because they do not have local officers to turn to as yobs and street criminals run amok in their towns and villages.
"It should not matter where you live – everyone deserves local, visible policing they can trust, and with our Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee we will end this postcode lottery and restore policing to our communities."
But whilst the idea of extra funding is welcome amongst Suffolk Police, the chair of Suffolk Police Federation has said that this must be view in a "wider context".
Mr Harris said: "Suffolk Police Federation welcomes any additional funding that results in more police officers on our streets to help protect our communities. However, this must be viewed in the context of the wider financial pressures facing policing.
"As this funding is ringfenced, we continue to see the loss of valuable police staff roles due to chronic underfunding across the service. This feels like a classic case of ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’ - improving one area at the direct expense of another."
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