MORE police officers will be brought onto the county’s streets next year as plans for 150 new posts were rubber stamped.

Essex Police are set to pay for the new officers through an increase in council tax - which works out at £1 per month for the average household.

Officers will be recruited and trained throughout this year and be ready for duty in January.

A total of 53 officers will be deployed to local policing teams and work on responding to emergency calls, while an extra 50 officers will go to community policing teams focusing on prevention of crime and anti-social behaviour.

There will be 21 more domestic violence detectives, 25 officers for the Operational Support Group which works on initiatives which requite specialist tactics and an extra officer in the cyber crime unit.

Chief Constable Stephen Kavanagh said: "I’ve heard communities across Essex tell me they are hugely grateful for what my officers and staff do but people want to see more of us more often in their communities.

“I agree with them and my promise has always been that when funding allows we will invest in those local teams to help communities but also give my teams support.”

“Now we can put more cops in communities and give hardworking officers dealing with traumatic incidents more support and resilience.

“Over the last five years I’ve taken officers from local policing teams so they can work on harmful, complex crimes.

“That was never an easy decision but it was a right one and necessary to protect the people who need us most.

“I know 150 officers in Essex cannot be the end of the story, though.

“We still face big challenges and we still have victims of crime who want more of our time than we are able to give.

“We’ll still have to prioritise our time and make really difficult decisions about the incidents we deal with.

“But today’s announcement is a start and it makes the thin blue line a good deal less thin in Essex.”