Police and Crime Commissioner David Lloyd has hit back at speculation that his pledge to increase police numbers by 75 may not add up.

From April, the policing element of the council tax across Hertfordshire will increase – by the equivalent of £2 a month for a band D property.

Mr Lloyd has pledged that the biggest chunk of the additional funds will be used to increase the number of police officers.

It has been claimed the extra officers would take the number of police officers in the county over the 2,000 threshold for the first time since 2010.

But questions had been raised about the pledge, because of a comment made by Mr Lloyd in November – when he had said the aim was to reach the 2,000 target by the end of 2018.

And that had led to some speculation that the increase in police officers could be fewer than the 75 pledge.

However at a meeting of the county council’s community safety and waste management cabinet panel on Monday (March 18) Mr Lloyd spoke out.

He said the doubts about his pledge to increase police officers by 75 were “really frustrating” and that people had been trying to “make mischief”.

Data presented to the cabinet panel by Mr Lloyd shows that between April 2018 and December 2018 the actual number of police officers fell short of the 2,000 target – varying between 1,901 and 1,952.

And while the figures confirm an aim to reach the 2,000 figure by the end of March 2019 – this is reported not yet to have been reached.

Against the ‘actual’ number of police officers Mr Lloyd pointed to  the ‘establishment’ figure – which is a measure of the funding for police expressed as the number of officers.

And he said it was this ‘establishment’ figure that would increase by 75 as a result of the increase in council tax contributions.

Throughout 2018/19 the ‘establishment’ figure has remained at 1,959 – even though the actual number of officers have varied.

But it will – according to the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner – increase from 1,959 to 2,009 in 2019/20, with plans for an additional 25 probationary officers on top of that figure.

“The establishment number of front line officers has increased by 75 due to the precept increase,” said Mr Lloyd.

“The establishment number is the budget for the number of officers. Of course the day to day reality is that the actual number of officers fluctuates – due to recruitment and retirement and those not currently fit for active service.”

During the meeting Mr Lloyd also shared a graph with the cabinet panel showing that the number of police officers in the county is “going up, and up, and up”.

And he said the doubts raised about the pledge were particularly frustrating as he was one of only a few commissioners to have increased the number of police officers.