Police numbers fall – small annual drop in South Yorkshire

POLICE officer numbers across England and Wales have dropped by 4,516 in the past six months.

There were 129,584 police officers in the 43 police forces of England and Wales as at 31 March 2013 – down from 123,237. In South Yorkshire Police there are now 2,767 police officers. This is down just 7 officers in six months and 4 officers in 12 months.

However, numbers of officers in the force have dropped drastically in the past six years. In 2007, South Yorkshire Police had more than 3,300 officers.

Neil Bowles, chairman of South Yorkshire Police Federation, said: “If the force has to save another £9m by 2015 this will have an effect on staffing”.

There were actually small rises in police officers in Norfolk and Suffolk Constabularies.

Derbyshire Police also enjoyed a very small rise in officer numbers, with six new cops in the past six months.

The information came out the same day as statistics revealed crimes recorded by police in England and Wales have fallen by 7% in the year ending March 2013, according to the Office for National Statistics.

There were reductions in nearly all the main categories of crime including violence, but sexual offences rose 1%.

Separate data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales showed the number of crimes had fallen 9% since a year ago.

Prime Minister David Cameron hailed the figures as “good news” at a time of police cuts and thanked the service for its efforts.

“We have asked them to do more with less resources. They have performed, I think, magnificently,” he said.

Steve Williams, Chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said: “This drop in officer numbers is having a negative impact in service delivery.  How do you measure the value of an officer patrolling the streets? If this form of preventative policing is falling by the wayside then how many crimes are now going unreported because an officer is not there to spot suspicious behaviour?

“It must also be remembered that policing is about far more than preventing crime. Every day police officers are dealing with mental health incidents, searching for missing persons and dealing with road traffic collisions. Where is this reflected in the crime figures?”