London's Metropolitan Police is by far the largest police force in the United Kingdom with 34,315 officers in 2024. At 16,356 officers, the Scottish police force has the second-largest force in terms of officer numbers, followed by Greater Manchester police force, which had 8,141 officers that year. Although the Metropolitan Police are responsible for policing most of Greater London, the City of London Police force covers the historic center of London, which is around one square mile in size, and numbered 995 officers in 2024. Crime in the UK In 2023/24 there were approximately 6.66 million crimes recorded by the police in England and Wales, compared with 6.74 million in 2022/23, which was the highest number of crimes recorded in a reporting year since 2002/03. Although crime declined from the mid-2000s to the mid-2010s, there has been a noticeable increase in crimes from 2014/15 onwards. In terms of the crime rate, England and Wales had the highest in the United Kingdom, at 89.7 offences per one thousand people, compared with 55 in Scotland, and 52.3 in Northern Ireland. Cuts to policing reversed in recent years Between 2010 and 2017, the number of police officers in the UK fell from 172,000 officers to just 150,000. During this same period, the London Metropolitan Police saw officer numbers decline by around 2,000 officers. The fall in police personnel was a result of UK-wide funding cuts, during this time period, with police expenditure falling from 19.3 billion in 2009/10 to 16.35 billion by 2013/14. This policy has since been reversed, with the last UK government recruiting officers and generally spending more on the police service. As of 2024, there were 170,500 police officers in the UK, and government expenditure on the police service was 27.3 billion British pounds.

There were 147,746 police officers in England and Wales in 2024, the highest number of police officers during this provided time period. Between 2010 and 2018 the number of police officers in England and Wales fell from 143,734 to 122,405, with numbers increasing again from 2019 onwards.

On 31 March 2024, 91.6% of police officers were White, and 8.4% were from Asian, Black, Mixed, and Other ethnic backgrounds.

In England and Wales in 2024, there were 71,885 male police constables and 43,089 female police constables. Police constable is the starting rank for police officers in England and Wales, with the higher ranks having progressively fewer personnel.

Police recorded crime figures by Police Force Area and Community Safety Partnership areas (which equate in the majority of instances, to local authorities).

There were 35,310 police officers in London in 2024, the most of any region of England and Wales. In the same year, North East England had 6,724 officers, the fewest of any region.

The police workforce of the United Kingdom has fluctuated significantly recently, reaching a peak of ******* workers in the third quarter of 2009, before falling to ******* workers by 2017. There has been a recent uptick in the number of people working for the police since 2017, with the police workforce in the most recent quarter reaching *******.

Domestic abuse numbers, prevalence and types, by region and police force area, using annual data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales, police recorded crime and a number of different organisations.

This file contains the names and codes for police force areas in the United Kingdom as at 31st December 2024. (File Size - 16 KB) Field Names - PFA24CD, PFA24NMField Types - Text, TextField Lengths - 9, 19

There were ****** police officers in London in 2024, a decline when compared with the previous year. The majority of police officers in London work for the Metropolitan Police service, which is responsible for policing most of the UK capital, with the City of London Police only responsible for policing the historical center of the city, an area the size of around one square mile.

There were 930,398 crimes recorded by the Metropolitan Police in London in 2023/24, the most of any police force area in England and Wales. Greater Manchester Police reported 342,652 crimes, while West Midlands police recorded 328,180, making these police forces the second and third-highest in terms of crime recorded.

The Crime and Policing Comparator allows you to compare data on recorded crime and anti-social behaviour (ASB), quality of service, finances and workforce numbers for all police forces in England and Wales.

This publication presents statistics on Police Officer Quarterly Strength, which give the number of full-time equivalent police officers employed by the eight Scottish police forces.

Source agency: Scottish Government

Designation: Official Statistics not designated as National Statistics

Language: English

Alternative title: Police Officer Quarterly Strength Statistics, Scotland