Police officer numbers in England and Wales
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The number of police officers in England and Wales has fallen by over 20,000 between March 2010 and March 2018.
There were over 122,000 police officers in March this year. Counting those from the British Transport Police and those on secondment it was 126,000.
These figures refer to the number of full time equivalent officers (or how many there would be if you added up all their hours to make full -time roles).
The number of police officers in England and Wales is the lowest recorded level since the early 1980s. To make a consistent comparison over time, we have to use figures from March each year. Policing is local too, though. If you live in Merseyside, you won’t be directly affected by what’s happening to police numbers in Gwent.
The staffing picture varies across the 43 police forces of England and Wales. 51% of forces have gained officers in the year to March 2018, with Humberside Police seeing the
biggest rise in numbers (a 9% increase). 47% have lost officers, with West Mer...
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