PLANS to recruit 100 new police officers have been announced today, Friday.

However, numbers at Cheshire Police are due to drop overall from 1,956, to 1,900, by March next year.

John Dwyer, Cheshire Police and Crime Commissioner for Cheshire, said 100 officers are being recruited to replace existing cops who are due to leave or retire - they are not additional roles.

Mr Dwyer said: "A recruitment campaign will be launched on May 12, and I want to raise the bar and recruit 100 new officers by the end of March next year, which is higher than I had originally planned.”

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Applications open on May 12.