Essex Police are 35 constables short of the manpower they can afford - but new moves in using civilian labour aim to make better use of trained officers.

The head of personnel and training for Essex Police, John Rhimes, said that a shortfall in the number of constables will be addressed as up to 60 posts are filled by civilian workers.

This, he said, will mean that better use will be made of the resource of trained officers who can be used to fill current gaps in the police ranks.

His comments came in the wake of a study by BBC Radio 5 Live which revealed that police forces in England and Wales are more than 3,000 officers short because of long term sick leave and vacancies.

Essex Police were one of the 38 forces out of the 43 contacted that altogether had 970 vacancies between them, with the Metropolitan Police the highest at 176.

Mr Rhimes said: "It is trying to distribute resources. At the end of the day, what we have got to try to do is use our valuable resources.

"Every civilian that does a job that was done by a constable releases an amount of money."

He added that 350 applications had been received for Essex Police this year without a single post being advertised, and that the force would be looking to recruit when policing boundaries were re-drawn with Metropolitan Police at Epping Forest in April.

The Home Office has promised funds to recruit 5,000 new officers nationally over the next three years.

But money will only be available if forces meet efficiency targets and reduce the number of days lost through sickness.

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