In 2024, there were approximately 170,500 police officers in the United Kingdom, compared with around 155,000 in 2003. After reaching a high of 172,000 officers in 2010, the number of police officers in the UK fell to just 150,000 officers by 2017. Although that trend has reversed since this point, there are still approximately 1,000 fewer police officers in 2023 than there were in 2010. Why did police numbers fall? The fall in police numbers can be linked to a reduction in government spending on the police. In the aftermath of the 2008 recession, the coalition government of 2010 carried out a policy of austerity, vowing to cut government spending across the board. For the police service expenditure fell sharply, from 19.3 billion British pounds a year in 2009/10 to just 16.35 billion pounds in 2013/14, leading to cuts in personnel. Police service expenditure remained below 17 billion pounds a year until spending started to increase in 2017/18, with the most recent figure of 25.29 billion pounds for the 2022/23 year even higher than 2009/10. Rising crime from the mid-2010s Between 2002 and 2014, crime rates fell across all four jurisdictions of the UK, with the sharpest declines occurring in England and Wales, and Scotland. The falling crime rates seen during this period went into reverse from that year onwards, however, with the crime rate for England and Wales jumping from 62 crimes per 1,000 people to 89.5 by 2019/20. Although some crimes such as theft stayed at relatively low levels, the number of violent crimes has seen a sharp increase recently, rising from 634,600 offences in 2013/14 to over 2.1 million in 2022/23, for England and Wales.

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 ****** male police constables and ****** female police constables. Police constable is the starting rank for police officers in England and Wales, with the higher ranks having progressively fewer personnel.

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.

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

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

As of 2024, **** percent of police constables in England and Wales were males, compared with **** percent who were female. Higher up in the police ranks, the share of females is lower, with ** percent of police sergeants and **** percent of inspectors being men. The highest rank of Chief Officer has a distribution of **** percent male Chief Officers and **** percent female Chief Officers.

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.

Recorded crime for Police Force Areas. The data are rolling 12-month totals, with points at the end of each financial year between year ending March 2003 to March 2007 and at the end of each quarter from June 2007.

Use of force is a sometimes necessary, yet often controversial, police power. Attempts to understand and explore police use of force have often been hampered by a lack of data, both nationally and internationally, with much research reliant on a very small number of datasets, often in the United States of America. This new data, collected by police forces in England and Wales and collated and published by the Home Office, represents an exciting new resource. According to the Home Office, 'these statistics cover incidents where police officers have used force and includes: the tactics used, the reason for force, the outcome, any injuries (to the officers and or the subject) and subject information (age, gender, ethnicity and disability, as perceived by the reporting officer). From April 2017, all police forces in the UK have been required to record this data. The use of force data collection is intended to hold police forces to account and to provide the public with greater information on the different types of force used and the context in which this occurs' https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-use-of-force-statistics.This project (ES/N016564/1, Less Lethal Force in Law Enforcement) involved, in part, working with various stakeholders to help advise on the creation and maintenance of a new template form for police officers to record their use of force, which in turn has resulted in the collection of new use of force data. A subset of this information, which is generated by the police and published by the Home Office, is routinely made publicly available and this record has been set up to help signpost researchers towards this resource. Further details about the broader ESRC funded project is below: Use of force by law enforcement officials, including police and correctional officers, is a highly important issue. Yet whilst the situations in which these officials use firearms, and the effects of this use, are relatively well documented and understood, this is not the case with 'less lethal' weapons and 'less lethal' force. At least three key topics around less lethal weapons remain under-researched, and this project will tackle all three directly. First we lack a basic understanding of when, why, on whom, and how often, less lethal weapons are used - and whether certain groups of people (those of a particular gender, ethnic minority, mental health status or geographical origin) are more or less likely to have less lethal force used on them. This project will see the PI work closely with the National Police Chief's Council, the Home Office and UK police forces, utilizing datasets previously unavailable to academic researchers to answer such questions. Such issues are also relevant internationally, as shown by recent debates on police less lethal force in countries as varied as Armenia, Hungary and New Zealand. Second, whilst these weapons are associated with saving lives, they have also been associated with serious injuries and fatalities. In the UK alone, several high profile deaths-including that of Ian Tomlinson and Jordan Begley-have occurred following police use of less lethal weapons. There are key questions around how so called less lethal force can impact the right to life, and their association with fatalities worldwide. Building on my PhD work focusing on injuries associated with Taser, this project will see the PI work with the UN Special Rapporteur to research the impact less lethal force has on the right to life in the UK and globally. Third, if it is important to attend to the situations in which force is used, it is also important to look at how such force is monitored and governed. This requires working with police and government to help understand what data on less lethal force should be gathered and analyzed, and working with the independent oversight bodies that monitor places of detention (including police custody) to ensure that they have the necessary research to enable them to document the LLF used by state authorities. The UN Subcommittee for the Prevention of Torture has highlighted the need for research to assist them in addressing and monitoring less lethal weapons and other physical infrastructure found in places of detention. The PI will work with key decision makers on these issues; with the UK government on reporting, and with oversight bodies via the SPT and its network of over 40 national bodies. According to the Home Office's User Guide to Use of Force Statistics, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/945436/user-guide-police-use-of-force-dec20.pdf (pages 4 - 5): 'Officers must complete a ‘use of force report’ each time they use force tactics on an individual. The use of force reports also allow for other information to be recorded... The publication does not include force used in designated public order events, where officers may use force over a period of time against a person(s) not subsequently apprehended. In these situations, it is not feasible for officers to provide the same level of detail as for individual use of force incidents. Police forces may collect additional information at a local level, with further detail or including designated public order events".

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.

In 2024, approximately 8.4 percent of police officers in England and Wales were from ethnic minority backgrounds, compared with 8.1 percent in 2022, and just 3.5 percent in 2005.