§ Mr. Dobsonasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will give the number of crimes cleared up per police officer employed in each police force.
§ Mr. Douglas HoggThe ratios requested are given in the following table. The ratio of the number of offences 61W 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 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, and so on 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 up1 to the total police strength2 in each force in England and Wales, 1985 Police Force Avon and Somerset 9 Bedfordshire 13 Cambridgeshire 11 Cheshire 11 Cleveland 12 Cumbria 11 Derbyshire 13 Devon and Cornwall 11 Dorset 11 Durham 13 Essex 10 Gloucestershire 8 Greater Manchester 13 Hampshire 10 Hertfordshire 12 Humberside 14 Kent 9 Lancashire 11 Leicestershire 12 Lincolnshire 10
62W
Actual strength on 31 March 1986 Police area Provisional outturn 1985/86 (£ thousand) Police officers Civilians Traffic wardens Cadets Full-time Part-time Avon and Somerset 65,919 2,958 752 46 137 — Bedfordshire 22,278 985 271 72 33 — Cambridgeshire 27,051 1,136 330 74 45 — Cheshire 37,755 1,806 364 124 44 — Cleveland 31,029 1,470 275 76 25 — Cumbria 25,769 1,127 275 77 25 11 Derbyshire 40,391 1,753 606 172 82 — Devon and Cornwall 64,910 2,739 798 100 119 — Dorset 29,766 1,199 400 41 66 8 Durham 28,150 1,293 464 124 18 — Dyfed Powys 18,813 930 179 57 23 — Essex 57,904 2,666 666 173 114 21 Gloucestershire 23,320 1,146 211 91 22 — Greater Manchester 148,215 6,768 1,449 354 184 — Gwent 20,619 978 201 59 20 6 Hampshire 68,241 3,062 694 153 91 — Hertfordshire 34,572 1,565 342 123 82 — Humberside 43,976 1,933 478 128 65 — Kent 66,276 2,870 784 191 115 — Lancashire 66,740 3,021 713 363 91 — Leicestershire 37,801 1,737 407 91 96 — Lincolnshire 25,594 1,139 306 124 21 — Merseyside 103,448 4,543 1,098 155 147 — Norfolk 27,628 1,263 281 60 39 — Northamptonshire 23,450 1,025 286 47 33 — Northumbria 78,164 3,357 968 150 145 —
Police Force London, City of 1 Merseyside 11 Metropolitan Police District 5 Norfolk 11 Northamptonshire 13 Northumbria 21 North Yorkshire 8 Nottinghamshire 14 South Yorkshire 13 Staffordshire 12 Suffolk 10 Surrey 6 Sussex 8 Thames Valley 13 Warwickshire 8 West Mercia 11 West Midlands 10 West Yorkshire 13 Wiltshire 10 Dyfed-Powys 9 Gwent 15 North Wales 11 South Wales 13 England and Wales 10 1Notifiable offences recorded as cleared up in 1985; excluding offences of "other criminal damage" value £20 and under. 2Police strength on 31st December 1985; excluding special constables, traffic wardens and civilian staff.