Police numbers rise

In November last year, 49 new recruits started their basic training at the Scottish Police College for the Lothian and Scottish Borders Division.

Of those, 14 have been drafted to serve in the Borders and began work with their allocated teams at the beginning of March.

Chief Inspector Vinnie Fisher, Local Area Commander, described the boost in numbers as “fantastic news”.

He said: “While we have been running targeted recruitment campaigns in the Borders for some time now, this will be the highest number of recruits to be deployed here in a single intake in years.

“This uplift takes us as close to budgeted establishment we have been, certainly in the two years I have been Local Area Commander.

“This is fantastic news for the region and while further training will be required before these recruits are as experienced and as effective as they need to be, their arrival provides some much-needed respite for all those who have worked so hard throughout the many resourcing challenges we’ve faced in recent times.

“It also allows those who have been waiting patiently, to finally be released to specialist and national posts.”