South Yorkshire now has 500 fewer officers

FIGURES published by the Government show South Yorkshire Police currently has 2,538 ‪‎police officers – that is 515 fewer than there were in 2009.‬

The police workforce strength statistics show there are now 125,185 police officers in England and Wales.

That’s 18,549 fewer officers than in 2010.

There has also been a 1,893 fall in police officer numbers since this time last year.

The figures – from September 2015 – show that there are also 18,054 fewer members of police staff working in England and Wales than there were in 2009.

And 1,062 fewer than this time last year.

There were also 960 fewer police community support officers (a 7.5% fall) and 722 fewer Special constables (a 4.3% drop).

National policing lead on workforce development, Chief Constable Giles York said: “Alongside colleagues, we must also do everything possible to look after our own people – avoiding unacceptable levels of stress, investing in them as professionals and offering advice or support where it’s needed.

“Our duty is to protect and serve. We remain committed to delivering the effective and efficient policing our communities expect.”

The Police Federation of England and Wales said the public were being “short-changed”.

A statement added: “There is nothing good to say about a cut of nearly 4,000 people from the total ‘policing family’, at a time when officer resilience should be our main concern.”