Cumbria Police Federation: We Need More Police Officers

14 October 2024

“There are insufficient numbers of officers to provide the services the public deserves”, the Chair of Cumbria Police Federation has said, as it emerged that there were only 20 bobbies on the beat for every 100,000 Cumbria residents.

The total police workforce in Cumbria is 1,383 – which equates to 275 officers per 100,000 residents. But only a fraction – 101 – of these are neighbourhood police officers.

On average, forces in England and Wales have 200 officers per 100,000 residents, way below other European countries such as Germany, France, Spain and Ireland. At the top of the list, Turkey and Greece both have over 500 officers per 100,000 people. Italy and Portugal have over 400 officers per 100,000 people, over double the numbers in England and Wales.

The figures are “stark”, said Ed Russell, Chair of Cumbria Police Federation, and they were linked to a number of complex changes in policing which meant that fewer officers were dealing with much more demand.

He said: “The reality is that policing and the Criminal Justice System have become increasingly complex over the past 25 years. Barely any element of the service has stayed the same.

“We have seen an increase in population; the advances in digital technology have impacted almost every crime type and investigative process; the wider justice system is barely able to cope with the pressure; and the role of the police has continued to diversify, with much-needed investment in safeguarding, violence against women and girls (VAWG) and other key areas.

“One thing, however, has not changed. Numbers. We have fewer police officers now than we did in 2010 and only barely more than in 2000. The Conservative Government uplift programme was too little, too late.

“The effect of this is obvious: there are insufficient numbers of officers to provide the services the public deserves. Policing is not a business, and it cannot be run as one. Tackling crime and anti-social behaviour cannot be managed on spreadsheets. It needs sufficient men and women committed to delivering for their communities and given the tools and the training to allow this to happen.”

Retention was also a real problem and more needed to be done to keep officers in policing, Ed added.

He said: “The sad reality is that officers are turning away from careers in policing. Cumbria has lost officers with more than 20 years’ service, experienced response officers, talented detectives, student officers and many more in the past few months.

“Many officers are working extended shifts, having their rest days cancelled and, in some extreme cases, working two or more weeks without a break. The first action we need to take is retention. We need a national focus on understanding the pressures on the frontline and staffing it in accordance with a keen understanding of the demands of modern policing.”

Tiff Lynch, Acting Chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales, told the MailOnline, who collated the research: "A sustained recruitment and retention programme for police officers is desperately needed."