Number of frontline law enforcement officials hits lowest degree for six years as Shabana Mahmood prepares to place dozens of chief constables out of a job
The number of police officers in frontline roles has plummeted under Labour to the lowest level in six years.
Official Home Office data, seen by the Daily Mail, revealed there were 67,085 officers in ‘visible frontline operational’ roles in England and Wales at the end of March last year.
The latest number of frontline officers was the lowest since 2018-19 when the total fell to a record low of 63,000.
At that point, the decline prompted the then Conservative government to launch a drive to recruit 20,000 additional officers.
The Tories met their pledge in 2023 and the number of officers in visible frontline roles peaked at just under 77,000 in March that year.
However, in the following 12 months it fell by 4,700.
And during the year to March last year – most of which was under the Labour government – it fell by more than 5,000 ‘full-time equivalent’ officers.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is set to announce a massive shake-up of police forces next week
The number of frontline police officers in ‘visible’ roles has fallen to its lowest level in six years under the Labour government, new Home Office data shows
The figures were compiled by the Home Office as part of a publicity campaign ahead of its long-awaited police reform White Paper.
The new policy document, due to be unveiled by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood next week, is expected to include the biggest shake-up of policing in more than 60 years.
Ms Mahmood is likely to set out changes which will slash the number of forces in England and Wales from 43 to between 10 and 20.
Labour’s reorganisation will aim to free up officers currently employed in backroom administrative jobs so they can be reallocated to frontline roles.
However, concern has been raised that a shake-up of such magnitude will come with huge initial costs and absorb huge amounts of senior officers’ time for years.
It also means dozens of chief constables and other top brass are likely to become redundant, amid increasing frustration in Whitehall at the police’s ability to respond to modern crime patterns.
Home Office insiders have said reform is necessary because crimes such as robbery, mobile phone theft and shoplifting are going ‘unpunished’, along with more complex cross-border crimes such as online fraud.
‘The current system of policing leaves local forces facing unreasonable national burdens, distracting them from meeting the needs of their local communities,’ a government source said.
In a speech in November the Home Secretary blasted the current police structure of 43 forces as ‘irrational’ and warned: ‘Clearly too much police time is spent behind a desk.’
The chief constables of the largest city forces – such as the Metropolitan Police and Greater Manchester Police (GMP) – are likely to be among the clear winners in any reorganisation, as they swallow up neighbouring smaller patches.
In other areas, such as the shire counties, there is likely to be bitter competition among chief constables as they compete to win the top job in much larger ‘regional’ police forces.
Currently the smallest forces – excluding the City of London Police – are Warwickshire, Lincolnshire and Wiltshire with about 1,100 or 1,200 officers each, while the largest are West Midlands with 5,000, West Yorkshire with 6,000, GMP with 8,000 and the Met with 33,000.
The last major reform of policing structures saw a series of amalgamations between 1964 to 1966, with the number fall from 158 forces to the existing 43 forces.
