NEW blood could be brought into Merseyside Police to give ill officers the chance to retire.

Up to 40 new policemen could be out on local streets by the end of the year after Merseyside Police Authority, responsible for the force’s finances, discussed a slackening of the current recruitment freeze.

In a recent interview with the Liverpool Post (read here), Chief Constable Jon Murphy spoke of his frustrations at not being able to recruit a single new bobby for the last two years because of Government budget cuts.

But at a meeting of the MPA finance committee yesterday, a proposal to lift the existing recruitment freeze to allow for 40 new constables was discussed.

A final decision will now be made at the authority’s budget meeting in two weeks. The plan is to offer officers current working in a “restricted capacity” or “those with medical conditions which are unlikely to improve” the option to retire.

It is hoped enough officers will take up the offer so that, along with some cash from savings already made, there will be money for spare to bring in new recruits.

Any new bobbies will come from the pool of applicants who have already passed the recruitment process.