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Police statistics

Discover the latest statistics on the police in the UK.

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By

Matthew Boyle

Updated

Fact checked

When looking to buy a house in a certain area, researching the crime rates in that location may be an important consideration before taking the plunge on your mortgage. We looked into the latest police statistics to understand how many officers there are in the UK, how much money we’re spending on our police and which regions are the most protected. Click here to look closer at Liverpool crime statistics and Manchester crime statistics.

Quick overview

  • The police budget for 2018/2019 was £11.3 billion, £281 million more than it was in 2017/2018.
  • There are 43 police forces in England and Wales.
  • Across these 43 police forces, 123,000 police officers are employed.
  • There are 20,000 fewer police officers in 2019 than there were in 2009.
  • The police force with the most officers per 100,000 people is the Metropolitan Police with 350 officers.

Police budget

The police budget for 2018/2019 was £11.3 billion. This is a total of £281 million more than it was in 2017/2018. The force with the largest budget is the Metropolitan Police at almost £2.6 billion, which is understandable, as this budget covers all 32 London regions (apart from the City of London). The police force with the smallest budget is the City of London (The Square Mile).

Constituency 2017/18 2018/19
Metrpolitan Police (GLA) £2510.8m £2560.1m
Greater Manchester £545.4m £556.1m
West Midlands £524.4m £534.3m
West Yorkshire £408.3m £418.1m
Thames Valley £376.9m £389.7m
Hampshire £304.5m £314.2m
Merseyside £307.5m £312.6m
Devon & Cornwall £282m £291.3m
Kent £279.3m £288.8m
Avon & Somerset £273.7m £281.7m
Essex £267m £275.9m
South Wales £262.8m £271m
Lancashire £260.3m £266.8m
Northumbria £260.1m £265.3m
Sussex £256m £264.9m
South Yorkshire £240.7m £245.8m
Surrey £210.2m £217m
West Mercia £201.2m £205.8m
Nottinghamshire £190.5m £195.1m
Hertfordshire £182.8m £188.9m
Staffordshire £177.7m £182.7m
Cheshire £172.4m £177.9m
Leicestershire £170.5m £175.5m
Humberside £171.4m £175.3m
Derbyshire £162.7m £167.2m
Norfolk £148.9m £153.6m
North Wales £143.2m £146.5m
North Yorkshire £140.7m £144.8m
Cambridgeshire £129.8m £134m
Northamptonshire £122m £126m
Cleveland £123.2m £125.4m
Dorset £120.5m £124.7m
Gwent £120.9m £123.5m
Suffolk £112.7m £116.2m
Durham £113m £115.6m
Lincolnshire £110.6m £113.9m
Gloucestershire £106.5m £110.3m
Wiltshire £105m £109.2m
Bedfordshire £101.4m £104.6m
Cumbria £100.4m £102.9m
Dyfed-Powys £96.6m £99.1m
Warwickshire £90.8m £94.1m
City of London £56m £56.9m
Total England & Wales £11041.6m £11323.4m

Number of officers per year

The total number of police officers in the UK has been slowly falling since its relative peak in 2009. The number of police officers in 2019 (123,000) is 20,000 less than it was in 2009 (143,000). The 2019 figures do, however, show a small rise on the year before, when 122,000 officers were employed.

Year Total number of officers
2007 141,882
2008 141,704
2009 143,778
2010 143,735
2011 139,110
2012 134,100
2013 129,585
2014 127,909
2015 126,818
2016 124,066
2017 123,132
2018 122,405
2019 123,171

Officers per 100,000 people

The police force with the most officers per 100,000 people is the Metropolitan Police, which operates across all 32 London boroughs (excluding the City of London). At 350 officers per 100,000, this is more than double the area with the lowest ratio of police officers, which is Hampshire with 136 officers per 100,000 people. Explore the graphic and table below to find out how your region compares to the rest of the UK. The average figure across England and Wales is 208 officers per 100,000 people.

Constituency Police Officers Population Police per 100,000 population Rank
Metropolitan Police 31,175 8,908,100 350 1
Merseyside 3,396 1,423,100 239 2
Cumbria 1,160 498,900 233 3
Greater Manchester 6,444 2,812,600 229 4
South Wales 2,986 1,331,000 224 5
West Midlands 6,495 2,916,500 223 6
West Yorkshire 5,137 2,320,200 221 7
Gwent 1,308 591,200 221 8
Dyfed-Powys 1,145 518,100 221 9
Northumbria 3,081 1,456,600 212 10
Cleveland 1,198 567,700 211 11
North Wales 1,458 698,400 209 12
Humberside 1,889 932,100 203 13
Lancashire 2,895 1,498,300 193 14
Kent 3,553 1,846,500 192 15
Chesire 2,006 1,059,300 189 16
Norfolk 1,609 903,700 178 17
Durham 1,118 633,500 176 18
Bedfordshire 1,164 669,300 174 19
Thames Valley 4,149 2,407,600 172 20
Warwickshire 4,149 2,407,600 172 20
Devon and Cornwall 3,000 1,762,400 170 21
Cambridgeshire 1,447 852,500 170 22
Hertfordshire 2,009 1,184,400 170 23
Gloucestershire 1,073 633,600 169 24
South Yorkshire 2,370 1,402,900 169 25
Derbyshire 1,767 1,053,300 168 26
Nottinghamshire 1,936 1,154,200 168 27
Essex 3,071 1,832,800 168 28
Leicestershire 1,829 1,093,200 167 29
North Yorkshire 1,377 824,400 167 30
Northamptonshire 1,187 747,600 159 31
Dorset 1,223 772,300 158 32
Surrey 1,882 1,189,900 158 33
Avon & Somerset 2,676 1,711,500 156 34
West Mercia 1,989 1,282,200 155 35
Suffolk 1,172 758,600 155 36
Sussex 2,629 1,703,800 154 37
Lincolnshire 1,096 755,800 145 38
Staffordshire 1,567 1,131,100 139 40
Wiltshire 992 720,100 138 41
Hampshire 2,697 1,985,800 136 42
England & Wales 123,172 59,115,800 208 N/A

Top 10 regions with the most crime

We looked at the latest statistics from the police to see which regions saw the most crimes in July 2019. The graphic below shows the regions with the most crimes. The Cities of London and Westminster had the most crimes at over 6,900. To see how all the regions across England, Wales and Northern Ireland rank, click on the “Table” tab below. You can search for your region in the search bar. Results are filtered by number of total crimes.

To find out more about crime in London, Liverpool or Manchester, see our other stats pages.

Constituency Population Total crimes committed
Cities of London and Westminster 122,923 6,911
Leeds Central 152,847 3,643
Holborn and St Pancras 154,210 3,272
Birmingham, Ladywood 146,279 2,897
Bethnal Green and Bow 146,820 2,535
Middlesbrough 95,892 2,478
West Ham 185,200 2,387
Bristol West 138,885 2,386
Bermondsey and Old Southwark 144,175 2,354
Derby South 115,414 2,326
Hackney South and Shoreditch 134,550 2,271
Tottenham 142,569 2,184
Liverpool, Riverside 131,888 2,182
Bradford West 117,969 2,113
Newcastle upon Tyne Central 102,253 2,068
Preston 96,426 2,005
Blackpool South 79,725 1,987
Poplar and Limehouse 161,144 1,978
Nottingham South 118,722 1,972
Vauxhall 122,334 1,950
Nottingham East 109,797 1,922
Islington South and Finsbury 118,926 1,914
Kensington 113,446 1,896
Sheffield Central 130,085 1,890
Lincoln 111,942 1,850
Doncaster Central 110,064 1,845
Hammersmith 117,504 1,831
Rochford and Southend East 105,200 1,829
Leicester South 127,672 1,824
Bradford East 118,123 1,802
Leeds East 99,969 1,752
Greenwich and Woolwich 129,210 1,733
Hayes and Harlington 126,503 1,731
Brent Central 147,291 1,718
Brighton, Pavilion 112,196 1,699
Hackney North and Stoke Newington 141,379 1,697
Peterborough 122,987 1,688
Slough 142,082 1,680
Gloucester 119,713 1,671
Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport 114,519 1,668
Stockton North 92,763 1,662
Bournemouth West 105,394 1,652
Luton South 119,759 1,642
Colchester 122,387 1,630
Thurrock 128,157 1,604
Cardiff Central 93,276 1,598
Westminster North 129,527 1,597
Cambridge 115,902 1,595
Mansfield 108,576 1,583
Croydon North 146,065 1,581
Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford 112,182 1,568
East Ham 162,796 1,564
Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle 86,690 1,557
Sunderland Central 101,578 1,549
Islington North 116,074 1,538
Halifax 104,649 1,536
Great Grimsby 88,500 1,533
Crawley 111,664 1,518
Leeds West 94,030 1,507
Bradford South 105,363 1,504
Hartlepool 93,019 1,493
Ilford South 144,360 1,493
Southampton, Itchen 110,014 1,486
North Tyneside 104,399 1,484
Dartford 113,576 1,483
Camberwell and Peckham 131,739 1,481
South Thanet 101,730 1,478
Stoke-on-Trent Central 85,975 1,468
Blackburn 109,163 1,465
Northampton South 101,461 1,464
Edmonton 120,266 1,464
Feltham and Heston 134,332 1,457
Hornsey and Wood Green 128,655 1,457
Oxford East 123,350 1,453
Rochester and Strood 112,916 1,450
Brentford and Isleworth 134,768 1,449
Watford 122,153 1,446
Sittingbourne and Sheppey 117,975 1,438
Telford 96,290 1,435
Wakefield 99,280 1,435
Hastings and Rye 111,779 1,434
Barking 139,764 1,433
Lewisham, Deptford 125,190 1,429
Scarborough and Whitby 96,695 1,427
Milton Keynes North 132,573 1,424
Huddersfield 100,197 1,416
Leicester West 108,957 1,416
Liverpool, Walton 92,439 1,416
Bristol South 113,526 1,412
Ealing Central and Acton 122,419 1,411
Nottingham North 100,690 1,411
Worcester 102,314 1,408
Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough 112,154 1,397
Bedford 106,341 1,379
Batley and Spen 111,539 1,371
Boston and Skegness 106,272 1,364
Cardiff South and Penarth 115,406 1,358
Dewsbury 113,692 1,356
Hendon 138,888 1,353
Portsmouth South 114,544 1,344

Sources

Click here for more research. For all media enquiries, please contact:

Matt Mckenna
UK communications manager
T: +44 20 8191 8806
matt.mckenna@finder.com@MichHutchison/in/matthewmckenna2

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