§ Mr. Simon HughesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the total number of police per702W head of population was (a) in each police force and (b) in total on the last date for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [152373]
§ Mr. Charles ClarkeThe information is given in the table. The comparison 'population per police officer' provides a more meaningful figure than 'numbers of police per head of population'.
Force Police officers as at September 2000 Population as at June 1999 Population per officer Avon and Somerset 2,941 1,501,193 510 Bedfordshire 1,006 562,214 559 Cambridgeshire 1,266 724,897 573 Cheshire 2,000 982,527 491 Cleveland 1,421 555,944 391 Cumbria 1,048 491,814 469 Derbyshire 1,780 974,084 547 Devon and Cornwall 2,873 1,569,666 546 Dorset 1,299 692,543 533 Durham 1,581 606,744 384 Dyfed-Powys 1,045 480,663 460 Essex 2,780 1,617,660 582 Gloucestershire 1,142 561,941 492 Greater Manchester 6,767 2,577,040 381 Gwent 1,271 556,622 438 Hampshire 3,435 1,781,049 519 Hertfordshire 1,961 1,043,028 532 Humberside 1,905 881,586 463 Kent 3,239 1,587,243 490 Lancashire 3,215 1,425,533 443 Leicestershire 2,010 934,687 465 Lincolnshire 1,162 628,612 541 Merseyside 4,081 1,403,625 344 Norfolk 1,387 796,460 574 Northamptonshire 1,166 621,162 533 Northumbria 3,885 1,418,626 365 North Wales 1,393 657,738 472 North Yorkshire 1,293 747,613 578 Nottinghamshire 2,232 1,032,685 463 South Wales 3,029 1,242,004 410 South Yorkshire 3,184 1,302,410 409 Staffordshire 2,157 1,060,606 492 Suffolk 1,115 674,639 605 Surrey 2,113 1,078,067 510 Sussex 2,812 1,514,991 539 Thames Valley 3,748 2,116,233 565 Warwickshire 912 507,909 557 West Mercia 1,906 1,140,577 598 West Midlands 7,350 2,626,505 357 West Yorkshire 4,806 2,115,380 440 Wiltshire 1,099 610,326 555 City of London1 720 — — Metropolitan police 24,695 7,285,045 295 Total force numbers2 122,230 52,689,891 431 Total for England and Wales including secondments 124,614 52,689,891 423 1 Police per head of Population for City and Metropolitan police are combined. 2 Excluding secondments to central service, NCS, NCIS and inter-force units. Note:
Police numbers are full time equivalents.