Police service strength Standard Note: SN00634 Last updated: 10 September 2012 Author: Gavin Berman Section Social and General Statistics This note summarises police service strength data from the Home Office, Scottish Government and Police Service of Northern Ireland. Detailed police service strength data for England and Wales, at 31 March 2012, was published in July 2012. A headline update with data at 30 September 2012, will be published in January 2013 • Police Service Strength, England and Wales, 31 March 2012, HOSB 09/12 • Police Service Strength, England and Wales, 30 September 2011, HOSB 03/12 Further information for Scotland and Northern Ireland is available: • Police Strength Statistics for Scotland • Police Service of Northern Ireland This information is provided to Members of Parliament in support of their parliamentary duties and is not intended to address the specific circumstances of any particular individual. 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Contents 1 Summary 3 2 England and Wales 4 2.1 Police officer strength 5 Long term trends 6 2.2 Police officer diversity 7 2.3 Leavers and Joiners 9 2.4 Other Police Service Staff 10 Police civilian support staff 10 Police Community Support Officers (PCSO) 10 Special Constabulary 10 2.5 Measuring the frontline 12 3 Scotland 16 4 Northern Ireland 18 5 International comparisons 19 6 Appended Tables 20 2 1 Summary • There were approximately 220,500 FTE staff working in the police service at the end of March 2012. 61% of these were police officers, 31% were police support staff, 7% were Community Support Officers and the remainder were either designated officers or Traffic Wardens. In addition, there were 20,343 special constables. • There were 134,101 full-time equivalent (FTE) police officers in the 43 police forces of England and Wales as at 31 March 2012. This is the lowest number of police officers recorded since March 2003. • Police officer numbers have fallen by over 5,000 compared with March 2011, a 3.6% reduction. • Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) estimates that police officer strength will stand at 128,750 by March 2015, a 10% fall on the 2010 baseline figure. • In addition to the officers in the 43 police forces there were 481 officers seconded to central service and 2,557 representing the British Transport Police. • According to the HMIC definition 70% of all staff working the police service were in frontline roles on 31 March 2012. On this date 84% of police officers were in frontline roles. • The proportion of police officers that are female has risen from 15% in 1997 to 27% by March 2012. • The first female Chief Constable was appointed to Lancashire police force in 1995. There are currently five police forces in England and Wales with female Chief Constables and one with a temporary Chief Constable. • The proportion of police officers that consider themselves to be from a minority ethnic background has risen from under 2% in 1997 to 5% in 2012. • The only Chief Constable from a minority ethnic background took up his post in the Kent police force in January 2004. Mike Fuller held this post until April 2010. • There were 17,373 police officers in Scottish police forces at the end of June 2012, slightly lower than the record high in March 2012. • The FTE strength of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) stood at 7,058 in September 2012. 3 2 England and Wales Police service strength data is published biannually. Detailed statistics are published in July showing the situation at 31 March, the following January headline statistics are released summarising the situation at 30 September. There were approximately 220,500 FTE staff working in the police service at the end of March 2012. The majority of these (61%) were police officers, 31% were police support staff, 7% were Community Support Officers and the remainder were either designated officers or Traffic Wardens. In addition, there were 20,300 special constables. Chart 1 below shows the trends since 2003 in total police service strength and includes Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) estimates for the remainder of the current Spending Review period. Chart 1 - Total police service strength, full time equivalents at 31 March 300,000 250,000 200,000 150,000 100,000 50,000 0 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 (est) (est) (est) Based on the HMIC 2015 estimate total police service strength will fall by 13% from the 2010 baseline; however this will be returning police service strength to the level of March 2004. March 2010 is used as the baseline date as many forces started to reduce their workforce before the funding cut was implemented in March 2011, anticipating that they would have to make savings in the future. 4 2.1 Police officer strength The current headline measure of police officer strength includes absent staff, such as those taking career breaks or on parental leave. This ‘all staff’ measure of police officer strength was first used to produce figures for March 2003. Prior to March 2003 these absent staff were excluded from the headline measure. At 31 March 2012 total strength of the 43 police forces in England and Wales reached 134,101 full-time equivalent (FTE) officers. This is the lowest number of police officers recorded since March 2003. Police officer numbers have fallen by 5,000 compared with March 2011, a 3.6% fall. In addition to the officers in the 43 police forces there were 481 officers seconded to central service and 2,557 representing the British Transport Police. Chart 2 shows the trends in the ‘all staff’ measure of police officer strength since 2003 and includes the HMIC estimate of strength for the remainder of the current Spending Review period. Figures provided to HMIC by the police forces suggest that police officer strength will fall to 128,750 by 2015, this is 10.4% below the 2010 baseline. Although the data is not directly comparable, due to the change to the ‘all staff’ measure in 2003, it appears that by 2015 strength will be at levels not seen since the early 2000s. Chart 2 - Police officer strength, full time equivalents Full time equivalents excluding secondments and British Transport Police 160,000 140,000 120,000 100,000 80,000 60,000 40,000 20,000 0 Mar Sept Mar Sept Mar Sept Mar Sept Mar Sept Mar Sept Mar Sept Mar Sept Mar Sept Mar Mar Mar Mar 2003 2003 2004 2004 2005 2005 2006 2006 2007 2007 2008 2008 2009 2009 2010 2010 2011 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 (est) (est) (est) Surrey Police, where strength increased by 4.7% between March 2011 and 2012, was the only force in England and Wales that saw an annual increase in police officers numbers. Surrey Police suggest this is because they underwent reductions in officer numbers between 2006 and 2009, several years before England and Wales as a whole. 5 Amongst the other 42 police forces in England and Wales the annual fall in officer strength ranged from less than 1% in Metropolitan Police and Thames Valley to 10% in Derbyshire. By March 2015 police officer numbers in Surrey are expected to be 2.6% higher than they were in March 2010. They are the only force expected to increase officer numbers over this period. Reductions in officer strength range from 1% in Suffolk to over 20% in Humberside and Dorset. See the appended table A1 for strength data for each police force in England and Wales. Long term trends As discussed earlier the current headline measure of police officer strength includes absent staff, such as those taking career breaks or on parental leave. This measure was first used to produce figures for March 2003. Previously such staff were excluded from the strength figures, therefore the headline figures published in publications prior to March 2003 are not directly comparable with later publications. The Home Office still collects strength data based on the old definition, strength excluding absent staff, but no longer routinely publish it. Excluding absent staff, to enable longer term comparison, there were 131,717 police officers in the 43 police forces in England and Wales in March 2012. This is 7% below the 142,209 strength as at September 2009, which is the highest recorded level. The chart below uses the comparable strength series to highlight trends in police officer numbers. Chart 3 - Police officer strength, England and Wales 1979 - 2012 Full time equivalents excluding secondments and British Transport Police Excludes staff on career break /parental leave to enable long-term comparisons 160,000 From 1996 police service strength data was published as at 31 March and 30 September. 140,000 Previously only the March data was released. 120,000 100,000 80,000 60,000 40,000 20,000 0 1979 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 Police officer strength increased steadily throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. However, strength fell by over 4,000 in the seven years from 1993, falling in six of those years.