ACCORDING to Sussex Police there are now more than 100 new police officers in the county, the result of it gaining an additional 114 following a government recruiting campaign that began last September (The Argus, August 12).

The MP for Crawley, Henry Smith, praised the government action, saying that every one of these “new” and “additional” men and women will make an enormous difference in helping cut crime and keep people safe but, in this context, the words “new” and “additional” are not the same as “extra”, which is the one that really counts and the only one which the public is interested in.

After all, during the 12 months that these new recruits have been trained and started to patrol our streets, dozens of others will have left the force for reasons such as retirement, resignation, dismissal and ill health.

In other words, the number of extra officers is most certainly not 114.

It may be a little less, or it may be a lot less, but until Sussex Police and the Government tell us how many officers have left, as well as how many have joined, we will never know “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth” about how many extra officers are now fighting crime on our behalf.

Eric Waters Lancing