Thanks to Dottie for alerting me to this.
In the Guardian today:
Police officer numbers in England and Wales at lowest level for two years, figures show The number of police officers in England and Wales has slipped to its lowest level in two years, PA Media reports. PA says:
The headcount of officers employed by 43 forces stood at 148,886 at the end of September 2024.
This is down 883 from a peak of 149,769 at the end of March and the lowest total since the end of September 2022 (144,346), according to Home Office data published today. Last month, Keir Starmer promised a named, contactable police officer for every neighbourhood in England and Wales as he laid out his “plan for change”.
With only 8% of the UK population but ignoring for the moment much lower crime, Police Scotland might be expected to have around 11 912 officers.
According to BBC Scotland in 2024:
There are currently 16,600 police officers in Scotland, the lowest figure since 2008. The primary duties of police officers include crime prevention, arresting criminals, maintaining public order and traffic management.
Scotland has, per head of population, 39.4% more police officers.
This is despite having barely half the overall crime rate:
The crime rate in Scotland is lower than in England. In 2022/2023, the crime rate in England was 93.6 crimes per 1,000 people, while in Scotland it was 52.8 crimes per 1,000 people. This indicates that Scotland has a lower overall crime rate compared to England.
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 