§ Lord Swinfenasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many serving police officers per 100,000 population there are in England and Wales today; and how many there were in 1945, 1955, 1965, 1975, 1985 and 1995. [HL956]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Bassam of Brighton)The numbers of serving police officers per 100,000 population are given in the table.
108WA
Year1 Population Police strength Police per 100,000 pop. 1945 42,636,000 as at June 45 64,965 as at 30 September2 152 1955 44,274,000 as at June 54 66,531 as at 31 March 150 1965 47,762,800 as at June 65 81,971 as at 31 March 172 1975 49,218,700 as at June 75 102,738 as at 31 March 209 1985 49,767,000 as at June 84 120,116 as at 31 March 241 1995 51,820,222 as at June 95 127,222 as at 31 March 245 2000 52,689,891 as at June 99 124,170 as at 31 March 236 2000 52,689,891 as at June 99 124,614 as at 30 September 236 1Population figures are from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), as used in Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary's annual reports until 1985. For 1995 and 2000, information provided directly from ONS.
2Police numbers for 1945 are taken from the Annual Report of Her Majesty's Inspectors of Constabulary, as Home Office records for police numbers commence in 1947.