§ Mr. Dobsonasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the number of crimes cleared up per member of staff for each police authority in England and Wales.
§ Mr. Hurd[pursuant to his reply, 7 March 1984, c. 588]: The ratios requested are given in the following table. The ratio of the number of offences cleared-up to total notifiable offences recorded differs markedly for different categories of offence; hence the number of offences cleared-up is affected by variations between police forces in the numbers of each type of offence recorded and the circumstances of those offences. It is also affected by variations in police practices in recording offences cleared up. Many officers may be involved in clearing-up a single offence and the ratio does not indicate how many offences, on average, are dealt with successfully by each officer. Variations in the number 294W of offences cleared up per officer may also reflect variations in other duties carried out by the police in respect of public order, crime prevention, traffic, etc. and variations in the numbers of civilian staff supporting the police, and in the duties which those staff perform.
The ratio of the number of notifiable offences recorded as cleared-up* to the total police strength† in each police force area in England and Wales, 1982 Police force area Avon and Somerset 9 Bedfordshire 12 Cambridgeshire 10 Cheshire 11 Cleveland 13 Cumbria 8 Derbyshire 12 Devon and Cornwall 9 Dorset 10 Durham 11 Essex 9 Gloucestershire 8 Greater Manchester 13 Hampshire 8 Hertfordshire 12 Humberside 12 Kent 9 Lancashire 9 Leicestershire 11 Lincolnshire 10 London, City of 2 Merseyside 12 Metropolitan Police District 4 Norfolk 10 Northamptonshire 12 Northumbria 19 North Yorkshire 9 Nottinghamshire 16 South Yorkshire 12 Staffordshire 10 Suffolk 9 Surrey 5 Sussex 9 Thames Valley 11 Warwickshire 8 West Mercia 10 West Midlands 10 West Yorkshire 12 Wiltshire 9 Dyfed-Powys 8 Gwent 13 North Wales 11 South Wales 12 England and Wales 9 * Notifiable offences recorded as cleared up in 1982; excluding offences of "Other criminal damage" value £20 and under. † Police strength on 31 December 1982; excluding special constables, civilian traffic wardens.