May 28 - Boost To Police Numbers As Government Announces "Major Investment" In RGP

The Government has announced that it will be boosting the Royal Gibraltar Police with 26 new police officers over the next three years. A further 24 officers will be moved to frontline duties.

A statement from the Government follows below:

Policing in Gibraltar has advanced continuously over the last 30 years. The Royal Gibraltar Police face new challenges that are increasingly specialised and technical in nature. The policing response to these challenges, therefore, has had to become increasingly sophisticated. The need to meet these growing demands, due to the volume, specialisation and complexity involved, had led to individual officers’ workloads increasing exponentially.

It was evident to RGP Senior Management that before a request was made to Government for an increase in complement, it had to be satisfied that the organisation had done everything in its power to maximise its existing resources. The RGP, therefore, embarked on a wide-ranging project aimed at generating a comprehensive business case. The purpose of this project was to identify the additional number of officers that the force required to meet its demands and to review the roles carried out by police officers. The review of police officers’ duties assisted the RGP in ascertaining functions which could be carried out by civilian work staff, thereby releasing more officers for operational duties.

HM Government of Gibraltar commissioned PWC to carry out an independent review of the RGP’s business case, its conclusions and proposals. On completion of the review, the independent assessors arrived at conclusions that were greatly similar to those that the RGP had presented in its business case.

In response to the conclusions of both the business case and the subsequent independent review, HM Government of Gibraltar is pleased to announce a three-year programme that will increase the RGP’s current establishment of 241 officers (all ranks) by an additional 26 new officers, to 267 officers (all ranks). Together with the RGP Command, HM Government of Gibraltar has commissioned a work stream that aims to release 24 police officers, currently engaged in support roles, into frontline policing.

The Commissioner of Police, Ian McGrail, said: “I wish to convey my gratitude to HM Government of Gibraltar for the consideration given to our business case and the increase to our establishment, which will better enable us to confront the increasing challenges of policing in the 21st Century.”

The Chief Minister, Fabian Picardo, said: “This major injection of resources highlights this Government’s confidence and unwavering support of the RGP. The addition of much-needed officers is recognition of the challenges faced by our police officers each and every day.”

The Minister for Health, Care and Justice, Neil F. Costa, said: “It gives me great satisfaction to reflect on this hugely significant investment to increase the RGP’s complement of police officers. This programme, which will spread over a period of three years, is a result of productive negotiations with the RGP. It was vital that any investment to which our Government was going to commit met the RGP’s fast evolving work profile, including complex financial crime, cyber-crime and complex fraud cases. I have to thank Commissioner McGrail, Assistant Commissioner Ullger and their team for their diligent work and painstaking efforts in ensuring our police force is adequately resourced to continue their excellent work in keeping Gibraltar safe.”

Editor's note: A previous version of this article erroneously reported that 50 new officers would be employed. 

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