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I write this page as the 2015 general election starts to approach and I thought it might be useful to take a look at police strengths since 1978 when I joined the Metropolitan Police.  It took a while to find all the figures, so I hope you find them interesting.

Today in the UK ( January 2015) there are about 223 police officers for every 100,000 people. That’s about 1 police officer for every 448 people you walk buy along the High Street.

Back in ’78 when I joined up the population of England and Wales was approximately 49 million, which gives us 1 police officer for every 459 people, so after 37 years we’re almost back to where we started!

Here’s how things have changed for the police population ratio using the year I joined plus the census years that followed and 2013, the last available estimate of population.

  • 1978 49 million population - 1 Police officer for every 459 people
  • 1981 49.6 million population - 1 Police officer for every 425 people
  • 1991 50.7 million population - 1 Police officer for every 404 people
  • 2001 52.4 million population - 1 Police officer for every 417 people
  • 2011 56.1 million population - 1 Police officer for every 412 people
  • 2013 57 million population - 1 Police officer for every 444 people

The numbers of crimes that the police have to handle (let’s call it workload) has also changed over these years as the population has increased, crime levels have gone up and then come down again, mirrored by police strengths.

Here’s how things have changed for workload

  • 1981 Police recorded crime approx 3 million – 25.7 crimes per police officer
  • 1992 Police recorded crime approx 5.7 million – 45.4 crimes per police officer
  • 2003 Police recorded crime approx 6 million – 45 crimes per police officer
  • 2014 Police recorded crime approx 3.7 million – 28.9 crimes per police officer

The years above are significant as you can see in the main table below:

The saving grace for government (of all colours) has been the huge reduction of most crime categories since the mid 1990s when the Crime Survey for England and Wales estimated about 19 million crimes per year. It now stands at about 7.1 million. Police recorded crime has also reduced enormously from around 6 million at its peak in 2003 to about 3.7 million today, so it’s no wonder why the current government has seen an opportunity to reduce police numbers.

It seems that the National Health Service is going to be the single most important political issue for this election, so don’t be surprised to see police numbers falling still further, to under 115,000 by the end of the next parliament (whoever gets in). This, of course, means that we will have to be even more responsible for our own security needs and that’s why I shall be writing huge amounts of new material to help you.

Here’s the data I collected and I'll be adding new figures as and when they become available.  Updated January 2015 

Police Strength in England and Wales since 1978 plus Population Levels and other Points of Interest

 

Police Officers

 

 

 

1978

106,732

When I joined the Met Police!

1979

109,653

Margaret Thatcher becomes Prime Minister

1981

116,590

Huge police pay increase

1981

11 million crimes estimated by British Crime Survey

Just less than 3 million crimes recorded by the police (25.7 crimes per police officer)

1981 Population

49.6 million - England and Wales = 1 police officer per 425 people

1985

118,620

Highest ‘Crime Survey’ crime levels ever recorded

1991 Population

50.7 million - England and Wales = 1 police officer per 404 people

1991

125,453

 

1992

125,570

Highest police recorded crime levels (about 5.7 million) using the old counting rules (45.4 crimes per police officer)

1990

124,834

 

1997

125,051

Tony Blair becomes Prime Minister

2000

122,230

 

2001

125,519

 

2001 Population

52.4 million - England and Wales = 1 police officer per 417 people

2003

133,366

Highest police recorded crime levels (about 6 million) using the new counting rules (45 crimes per police officer)

 

Police Officers continued

PCSOs

Specials

Total

March 2008

141,859

15,805

14,547

172,211

Sept 2008

142,684

15,740

14,459

172,883

March 2009

143,770

16,507

14,251

174,528

Sept 2009

144,833

16,814

14,516

176,163

March 2010

143,734

16,918

15,505

176,157

May 2010

David Cameron becomes Prime Minister

Sept 2010

142,363

16,376

16,772

175,511

March 2011

139,110

15,820

18,421

173,351

Sept 2011

136,261

15,469

19,366

171,096

2011 Population

56.1 million – England and Wales = 1 police officer per 412 people

March 2012

134,101

14,393

20,343

168,837

Sept 2012

132,235

14,411

19,159

165,805

2013 Population

57 million - England and Wales = 1 police officer per 444 people (Latest available data)

March 2013

129,584

14,205

19,011

162,800

Sept 2013

128,351

13,552

18,068

159,971

March 2014

127,909

13,066

17,789

158,764

June 2014

Lowest crime level estimate (7.1 million) since the crime survey began in 1981!

3.7 million offences recorded by police (28.9 crimes per police officer)

March 2015

126,818

 

Police Officers

PCSOs

Specials

Total

Change since March 2010

- 15,825

- 11%

- 3,852

- 23%

+ 2,284

+ 15%

- 17,393

- 10%