Fall in number of arrests made by police officers

POLICE officers arrested 75,000 fewer people in England and Wales than the previous year.

Home Office figures show that across the 43 forces there was a 7% average drop in arrests. Across England and Wales, police forces made 949,526 arrests in total. That is equivalent to 17 in every 1,000 people. The previous year the total figure for arrests was 1,024,969.

The Government data shows 801,898 arrests were of males and 147,628 of females.

Total recorded crime in England and Wales increased by 5% in 2014-15 compared with the year before, 4.3 million offences in total.

However, the Office for National Statistics said a large part of the rise was believed to be “due to improved compliance with national recording standards by police forces in the last year”.

Steve White, Chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, told the BBC: “It would be dangerous for anyone to look at the drop in arrest numbers and conclude there is less crime.

“Officers work very hard to ensure public protection from crime. However, the cuts the forces have faced in previous years have put a serious strain on resources, meaning there are fewer officers available to respond to incidents.

“It is hard to be specific about the exact reasons why arrest figures are lower, when crime is higher, but it would be fair to suggest that a lack of police resources and a change in the way crimes are recorded would have contributed to this change.”