DORSET Chief Constable Amanda Pearson recently presented awards to several teams for their outstanding contribution towards meeting the Force's responsibility to achieve the Government's target of recruiting an additional 20,000 police officers. 

The event provided an opportunity to recognise the work they have done to deliver the Police Uplift Programme, enabling the Force to put more officers into frontline policing roles.

Chief Constable Amanda Pearson said: "It truly was a privilege to celebrate the exceptional work everyone has achieved over the past three years. 

The team ethos between recruitment, training, and all the enabling departments, many of whom were represented at the awards ceremony, allowed the implementation of new innovative approaches and online working to ensure that the recruitment and training continued throughout the global pandemic to the present day.

"Uplift has been an excellent opportunity to ensure that our workforce represents the communities we serve and builds trust and confidence across our diverse county. The Positive Action Team has worked extremely hard to promote policing as a career open to all. 

"Through their hard work, we should take the opportunity to recognise that Dorset has seen increases in officers identifying as white non-British, black, Asian, or ethnically diverse. Also, our female representation has seen a significant rise of 17 per cent.

"I want to thank everyone involved throughout the Police Uplift Programme for their flexibility, dedication and commitment to achieving this goal. This success will also allow our communities to see us become more visible, connected, and effective as we strive to deliver an even better service to those who live, work, and visit our wonderful county.

Since 2019, Dorset Police has recruited 552 officers, all through the new entry routes, the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship, the Degree Holder Entry Programme, and the Detective Degree Holder Entry Programme. 

"This recruitment is the highest level ever undertaken, alongside introducing the entry routes, demonstrating exceptional flexibility and a 'can-do' attitude from all departments and teams across Dorset Police."

In all, it takes 20 teams to enable police officers to be recruited and deployed into our communities, supporting the people of Dorset and keeping them safe. These teams were recognised at the recent event and included

The Resourcing Team led the attraction and selection of our officers through the Uplift journey over the four years.  

The Workforce Planning Team - With excellent knowledge of Uplift requirements, the team effectively managed the programme to mitigate potential workforce risks.

The Estates Team ensured that the working environment could meet the training and subsequent operational requirements. 

ICT Training developed our student officers to use local and national ICT systems in preparation for their careers within policing.

Crime Training - The team has been fundamental in shaping and delivering specific detective programmes. During the four years, the team has provided an unprecedented number of CID, achieving best evidence interviewing and suspect interviewing courses as part of the investigators course.

The Initial training team has implemented multiple student officer entry routes in partnership with the University of South Wales.

The Operational Training Team is responsible for delivering Personal Safety Training to all recruits to ensure they meet the College of Policing standard and can deploy safely.

The Professional Development Unit (PDU) Team displayed significant flexibility, creativity and resilience in balancing student officer development and support to operational demand.

The Driver Training Team is a small team of eight trainers responsible for training all driving skills to all Dorset Police officers and staff.

The Governance and Internal Quality Assurance Team ensured the governance, assessment processes and support for student officers and training teams were in place.

The Corporate Communications Team enabled the marketing of the Force as a career opportunity in a highly competitive recruiting environment. 

Learning and Development Admin is crucial to support the training teams in arranging their delivery and has participated in all student officer inductions.

The HR Operations Team supported the rapidly growing and increasingly diverse workforce and gave professional HR support and advice to managers and individual officers.

ICT Department - ICT provided a wide range of support, from supplying hardware such as laptops, radios, and phones, creating user accounts, and arranging access to bespoke IT services.

Procurement Department – The team have been a massive support to the delivery of the Uplift numbers and has ensured every officer and transferee can be deployed safely with appropriate uniform and equipment. 

The Vetting Team – This team handled increased recruitment levels, ensuring officers were appropriate to serve at a time when they were introducing a new computer system.

The Occupational Health Team supported recruiting student officers, ensuring that every recruit to the organisation is fit and able to carry out the role of police officer.  

The Finance Team enabled the organisation to be in the best position to maximise accessing central government funds to deliver against the Uplift targets. 

Head Of People, Nicola Anderson, who has been the key driver delivering the success and achievement of Uplift, working locally, regionally, and nationally to ensure the resources, skills and funding to achieve this once in a generation opportunity.