Number of police officers in England and Wales falls by 6,000 in year, as chief constable warns of 'cliff edge'
The number of police officers fell by more than 6,000 in the past year, bringing the total uniformed strength of the force in England and Wales down to its lowest level for a decade.
A further 8,820 police civilian staff jobs, 11% of the total, and 907 community support officers jobs also went during the 12 months to September 2011, according to the latest Home Office figures published on Thursday.
They came as the chief constable of Gloucestershire delivered the starkest warning yet of the impact of budget cuts, warning that further reductions of his budget prompted by a council tax freeze are pushing his force towards a "cliff edge".
The total number of sworn police officers in the 43 forces in England and Wales has fallen by 4% from 142,363 in September 2010 to 136,261 in September 2011. Home Office statisticians say this is the lowest level recorded since 2002. Civilian staff numbers have so far borne the brunt of the cuts, falling by 11% over the same period.
The sharp drop in police numbers follows the 20% reduction in Whitehall grants for the police that the home secretary, Theresa May, announced in autumn 2010, to be spread over four years. Ministers argue that frontline policing can be maintained by making the cuts in "back office" costs.
The funding reduction has been frontloaded in the first two years and the current rate of decrease in police numbers is in line with predictions of 15,000 police jobs to be lost. Such reductions can be expected to continue for at least a further 12 months.
The warning from Gloucestershire's chief constable, Tony Melville, came in response to a barrage of warnings from police staff associations over the possible impact on frontline and neighbourhood policing of a further £1.3m savings on top of existing cuts of £24m from the £103m annual budget.
"Here in Gloucestershire, we are potentially in the middle of a perfect storm. Never before in my 34 years of policing have I experienced an issue that has galvanised staff and officers in the way that this has and I feel compelled to respond," said Melville.
He said the force had already lost funding for 63 officers and the council tax freeze meant they were cutting much deeper than had been intended when they started reviewing their spending. "So in a small force, a series of local decisions have combined to take us to a metaphorical cliff edge much more quickly than others," he said.
"We have already closed a majority of our stations and a third of civilian staff have been let go, so further cuts will inevitably mean that I need to look at neighbourhood policing," said the chief constable.
His warning was the starkest yet from a senior police officer since May, announced the grant cuts. Ministers were hoping increases in the precept forces levy on council taxpayers would go some way to bridge the gap but a freeze in many areas has closed off that avenue.
The policing minister, Nick Herbert, said after the police numbers were announced: "There were around 25,000 officers in backroom jobs, giving forces plenty of scope to save money while still protecting the front line.
"In fact, forces are protecting neighbourhood policing, and the proportion of the police workforce on the front line is rising," he said.
"What matters most is how officers are deployed. By cutting bureaucracy and working more efficiently, police visibility on the streets can be improved."
The Greater Manchester chief constable, Peter Fahy, the Association of Chief Police Officers' lead for workforce development, said it was "not surprising" to see a fall in the numbers of officers as most police forces had seen significant cuts.
"This is a very difficult time for most police forces with staff leaving and the challenge of managing redundancy and change programmes," he said.
"Workforce morale is understandably affected by the pay freeze, proposed increment freeze and increase in pension contributions."
Fahy said the effectiveness of policing could not be measured by the number of officers alone, but by reductions in crime and increases in public confidence.
"We will shortly enter the most difficult financial year for policing in living memory but forces have the plans to cope with what will be a most challenging time," he said.
On the positive side, he said, many forces had started recruiting again, or would continue to do so in the next financial year.
But he said this would not compensate for "what will still be a long-term reduction in numbers".
The shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, focused on the warning from Melville of the precarious position of his force. "For the Gloucestershire chief constable to describe his force's financial position as on a 'cliff edge' is a deeply damning indictment of the scale of government cuts. These are astonishingly hard-hitting words from a chief constable who has been put in an impossible position by the government," she said.