Lowest number of police in England and Wales since 2001

THE police service has shrunk by 17,278 officers in England and Wales in the past five years.

The service has lost the equivalent of a force the size of Police Scotland. There were 144,353 police officers in England and Wales in September 2009. There were 127,075 officers in the 43 police forces at the last count in September 2014.

In South Yorkshire, there are now 2,671 officers – an annual fall of 85 officers.

Across England and Wales, there has been a fall of 1,295 police officers since the year before. Overall 127,075 officers is the lowest number of police officers since 2001.

Of the 43 forces, 30 recorded falls compared to a year earlier, and 34 recorded falls compared to six months earlier. Officer numbers have fallen for each of the last five years, according to figures released by the Home Office.

The number of police staff have also fallen. There were 63,678 members of police staff in the 43 police forces on 30 September 2014, a fall of 1,023 or 1.6 per cent compared to a year earlier, and a fall of 419 or 0.7 per cent compared to 6 months earlier.

Regionally the north east suffered most where Cleveland, Northumbria and Durham saw an average loss of 3.5% of their officers in the six months to September 2014. Durham lost a 6.3 per cent of its fully warranted workforce. Bedfordshire were closely behind where 6.2 per cent of its officers were lost. The national average was a fall of 0.7 per cent over a six month period.

Neil Bowles, chairman of South Yorkshire Police Federation, says the police officer losses were “shocking figures”.

He said there was a risk South Yorkshire Police would be down to 2,020 officers by 2o20. “This would be unbelievable,” said Mr Bowles. “That would be a loss of 1,300 officers. And we’re not even talking about the police staff that obviously do an important role and that work still needs to be done. However, unless these cuts stop then that’s going to be a consequence.”

Steve White, Chair, Police Federation of England and Wales said: “If the first duty of government is to protect its citizens, cutting the number of police officers below a level which allows the service to keep the public safe is a strange way for ministers to go about achieving this aim.

“There can be no doubt that the drastic cuts in force budgets is doing real harm to the ability of the service to protect the public.’

He added: “We hear that crime is falling but this only measures a snapshot of police activity. What we do not hear about is the extreme pressure these government cuts are placing on officers’ ability to prevent terrorist attacks, manage sex offenders in the community, protect children from sexual exploitation and return missing persons to their families among other key issues.

“Officers are at breaking point. You cannot create a better police service by imposing swingeing cuts on its budgets – all that will achieve is to cut the service officers are able to give the public.”