§ Mr. Laurence RobertsonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of police budgets was spent on traffic(a) in Gloucestershire and (b) nationally in the last year for which figures are available. [56567]
§ Mr. BoatengThis information is not collected centrally. The allocation of resources to different functions is an operational matter for individual chief constables.
178WTraffic policing does not necessarily occur independently of other police duties, and the number of officers deployed to the traffic division is not indicative of the money spent on traffic policing. A large part of traffic officers' time is spent dealing with ordinary crime. It is an advantage that traffic officers deal with matters unrelated to traffic and that beat officers will also deal with traffic offences, thus contributing to more efficient ways of policing.