WEST Yorkshire Police has recruited an extra 252 officers in the six months up to March 31.

The figure is part of a total of 3,005 extra officers nationally for police forces in the first six months of the Government's recruitment drive to sign up 20,000 more over the next three years.

The overall provisional headcount of officers in England and Wales is now 131,596.

This is a 5% rise on March last year, of which the recruitment drive accounts for approximately half, a Home Office report showing the progress in the scheme since its launch in October to March said.

West Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), Mark Burns-Williamson, said: “It is very encouraging that the police officer uplift numbers for West Yorkshire are in line with the planned precept and budget I set earlier this year.

"Despite the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, West Yorkshire Police are managing and safely adapting to the challenges faced. It’s important to signal and continue to offer opportunities for anyone considering a career in policing.

“We are ensuring we are doing all we can to keep our communities safe and also to make sure newly-recruited officers, staff and volunteers are getting the best training at our state-of-the-art training facility.

"Strengthening and rebuilding the frontline and our Neighbourhood Policing Teams is crucial and even more important during these unprecedented times. The increased visibility and availability of police officers and staff is so important to the communities of West Yorkshire to offer more support and reassurance wherever we can.”

The extra West Yorkshire officers are either training or already deployed into frontline policing. Recruitment has also been bolstered, the PCC's office said, by additional funding raised through the local police precept set by the commissioner.

The Home Office said plans are "on track" to meet the first year's target of 6,000 by March 2021 and the new recruits are on top of those hired to fill existing vacancies.

Boris Johnson vowed to swell the police service to more than 140,000 officers by mid-2022 if he was elected Prime Minister.

Police officer numbers in England and Wales have fallen by more than 20,000 since 2009, with a reduction from 144,353 to 122,395 in 2018.

At the end of September, the police officer headcount was 127,381 and the full-time equivalent was 124,784 - a 2% difference.

Thursday's report said using headcount figures was the "most appropriate way to measure and track recruitment" rather than looking at full-time equivalent positions.

It added: "For new recruits, the difference in the two measures is likely to be even smaller as most new joiners tend to start on a full-time basis."

All the figures gathered in the last three months are provisional.