The Conservative Government is off track on its manifesto pledge to recruit 20,000 more police officers by March 2023, with new official figures showing the number of officers actually fell by 413 in December.
A total of 11,048 extra officers have been recruited under the Government’s uplift in the 29 months since it started in September 2019 – a rate of 381 more officers per month. To meet the target of 20,000 by March 2023, that rate would have to increase to 597 per month over the next 15 months.
Four police forces now have fewer officers than they did a year ago, according to the Home Office figures: Thames Valley (down 29), Gloucestershire (down 22), Warwickshire (down 12) and City of London (down 8).
Responding to the figures, Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson Alistair Carmichael MP said: “Since Boris Johnson is creating more work for the police, the least he could do is deliver more officers to do it.
“The Conservatives’ pledge to boost police officer numbers looks set to become yet another of their broken promises. They are letting down victims of crime and communities across the country.
“With four in five burglaries going unsolved, it’s clear we need more community police officers to make sure every crime is investigated properly.”