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News Archives: Index

October 7, 2010: Probation Set For Industrial Action

October 5, 2010: Turning Prisoners Into Taxpayers

October 4, 2010: Murder Changes Now In Force

September 20, 2010: Probation Programmes Face Cuts

August 24, 2010: Victorian Poor Law Records Online

August 10, 2010: Justice Job Cuts

July 28, 2010: Prison Violence Growing

July 22, 2010: Police Numbers: Latest Figures

July 22, 2010: New Jurisdiction Rules

July 16, 2010: CCJS On Prison And Probation Spending Under Labour

July 15, 2010: Latest Statistics On Violent And Sexual Crime

July 15, 2010: Latest National Crime Figures

July 15, 2010: New Chief Prisons Inspector

July 14, 2010: Hard Times Ahead For Prisons: Anne Owers

July 14, 2010: Prison Does Not Work: Ken Clarke

July 13, 2010: Criminal Justice Reform: Sentencing and Rehabilitation

July 13, 2010: Criminal Justice Reform Priorities

July 12, 2010: What Price Public Protection, Asks Probation Chief Inspector

July 12, 2010: NOMS has failed, says Napo

July 10, 2010: IPCC To Investigate Death of Raoul Moat

July 9, 2010: Women In Prison: New Report

July 9, 2009: Unjust Deserts: Imprisonment for Public Protection

July 8, 2010: Police Search Powers Change

July 7, 2010: Make 'Legal High' Illegal, Says ACMD

July 2, 2010: Failing Children In Prison

July 2, 2010: Police Buried Under a Blizzard of Guidance: HMIC

July 1, 2010: Freedom To Change The Law?

June 30, 2010: A New Outlook On Penal Reform?

June 30, 2010: Revolving Door Of Offending Must Stop, Says Clarke

June 30, 2010: Ken Clarke: Speech on Criminal Justice Reform

June 29, 2010: No More Police Targets

June 26, 2010: Family Intervention Projects Questioned

June 25, 2010: Cutting Criminal Justice

June 24, 2010: Napo on Sex Offenders Report

June 23, 2010: Closing Courts: The Cuts Begin

June 23, 2010: Strategy To Tackle Gangs

June 15, 2010: Courts and Mentally Disordered Offenders

June 8, 2010: Working With Muslims in Prison

June 1, 2010: Your Chance To Nominate a QC

Police Numbers in England & Wales

How many police are there in England and Wales?

There were 144,833 police officers (full-time equivalents) in England and Wales on 30 September 2009. (This includes 144,353 police officers in the 43 police forces of England and Wales and 480 officers seconded to central services.)

How does this compare with previous years?

Police officer numbers for the 43 English and Welsh forces have increased by 2,121 (or 1.5 per cent) compared with September 2008 and have increased by 583 (or 0.4 per cent) compared with March 2009.

Police staff numbers for the 43 English and Welsh forces stand at 80,322 (full-time equivalents), an increase of 2,350 (3.0 per cent) compared with September 2008, and an increase of 1,026 (1.3 per cent) compared with March 2009.

What about police community support officers?

There were 16,814 full-time equivalent police community support officers, or PCSOs, in the 43 English and Welsh police forces on 30 September 2009 (a 6.8 per cent increase since September 2008, and a 1.9 per cent increase since March 2009).

What about special constables?

 There were 14,516 special constables in the 43 forces of England and Wales (an increase of 0.4 per cent since September 2008, and an increase of 1.9 per cent since March 2009).

Will the number of police be cut?

Home Secretary Theresa May commented in June, 2010:

The spending review has not begun yet, so we don't know the exact figures, but I must be clear. The cuts will be big, they will be tough to achieve, and they will fall on the police as they will on other important public services.' 

Crimlinks has published the full speech here.