Fall in officers at Cambridgeshire police took a decade to reverse

The force had 1,471 officers in 2010, a figure which went down until 2020 when the number hit 1,545, following funding cuts.

That total has now reached 1,597 and is set to rise in future years, however, the toll on neighbourhood policing shows no signs of slowing down.

The number of PCSOs (police community support officers) has reduced from 209 in 2010 to 70 in September in 2020, and that will soon drop to 40 due to the force facing a deficit of £6.6 million.

The figures produced by the House of Commons Library reveal that the number of officers per 100,000 population is 187 in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, compared to the England and Wales average of 223.

This places Cambridgeshire Constabulary at 19th out of a list of 42 forces, with Lincolnshire ranked bottom.

The picture in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough mirrors the national situation. Across the UK, police officer strength increased year-on-year between 2003 (when there were 155,000 officers) and 2010 (when there were just over 171,600).

Since 2010, the number of police officers has fallen each year except in the last.

At March 31, 2020 there were just over 153,000 police officers operating within the UK - a reduction of five per cent compared to 2004 and 10.6 per cent compared to 2010, but a rise of 2.1 per cent from 2019.

Boris Johnson promised to reverse the cuts to police numbers when he became Prime Minister by recruiting 20,000 more.

The number of police officers in frontline roles fell by 16 per cent between 2010 and 2019, but has since increased by five per cent.

As of March 31, 2020, there were 108,856 police officers in frontline roles with Cambridgeshire third in the list for forces with the highest proportion of officers on the frontline (95.4 per cent).

The number of Special Constables - volunteers who offer support to regular officers - has reduced at Cambridgeshire Constabulary from 210 in 2010 to 184 in 2020.

The Peterborough Telegraph contacted the three confirmed candidates to be the next Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Commissioner for comment.

Conservative Darryl Preston said: “More warranted police officers with full policing powers in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough is good news with the force now at record numbers - and with many more to come over the next two years with the Government 20,000 uplift.

“However, the formula used to allocate the Home Office central grant to our county is unfair. If elected in May I will lobby hard alongside our MPs to get a much better settlement, to recruit even more police officers in our cities, towns and villages, tackling and cutting crime.”

Labour’s Nicky Massey said: “Regardless of policing numbers funding for policing in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough has long needed a real review to bring its funding level up to the national average. Currently we are the fifth lowest funded police force in the country.

“Given that the Census is happening this year as well, in a year where things are not quite normal, students are not currently in their universities and tourism is non-existent, I do fear that our funding could continue to be woefully lower per head than the rest of the country.

“Policing boots on the ground are great, but not when many of those are new and inexperienced. That brings itself to a whole new problem.

“Losing PCSOs who have often been the heart of our neighbourhoods with great experience is a casualty of the underfunding, as is losing any member of the policing community safety who work with key partners.

“The fact remains that this Government has underfunded health, social care, education and policing since 2010. The loss of experience in our police force is a tragedy in itself but it is great to see so many young people wanting to become police officers.

“Remember, it’s not just frontline policing that is needed, we need frontline support with intelligence, training support, HR staff and better computer systems to free up policing time to do what they do best.”

Liberal Democrat Rupert Moss-Eccardt said: “Although Cambridgeshire and Peterborough has less reported crime than some forces that does not excuse the unfair funding formula and it is no comfort at all to victims. Crime ruins lives.

“Looking at the police force area data tables, one can see that from 2015-2020 knife crime increased in our area by 78 per cent. Over the same period the number of uniformed officers went down significantly and have only just recovered.

“This isn’t good enough. The Conservative Government’s funding for the police simply hasn’t matched the scale of the challenge when it comes to knife crime. The Government must give our police force the funding it needs to restore proper community policing.

“We should take a public health approach to tackle serious violence. This means restoring community policing and youth services in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough to build real trust in the police force and to help prevent young people being drawn into crime.”

The total number of police officers in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough reached a low of 1,346 in 2017 before rising each year since then.