'Beat bobby' total falls for first time since 1995
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Your support makes all the difference.The number of police constables working on the "beat" has dropped for the first time in five years, according to a report published yesterday.
The number of police constables working on the "beat" has dropped for the first time in five years, according to a report published yesterday.
The study also revealed deep dissatisfaction among the public with the levels of foot patrols. The decline in rank and file officers available for normal duties was seized upon by opposition parties who claimed the Government was overseeing a decline in the police service. The total number of constables available for work in England and Wales fell by 0.9 per cent in 1998-99, the spending watchdog, the Audit Commission, said in its annual report. It was the first drop recorded by the commission in five years and bucked trends that had seen forces reduce the number of senior officers, but increase the lower rank, constables. Fewer than one in four people, 23 per cent, said they were happy with the number of "bobbies on the beat".
Most people, 52 per cent, were also unhappy with the level of mobile patrols. On average, there were 2.1 officers available for duty per 1,000 population, a drop of 0.1 per cent on the year before. This ranged from 1.76 in the Thames Valley force, to 3.20 in the Metropolitan Police area. The amount of time spent in public by officers ranged from 40 per cent of their work time in Derbyshire, to 73 per cent in North Yorkshire against an average of 52 per cent. The shadow Home Secretary, Ann Widdecombe, said: "While Jack Straw and his spin doctors have been fiddling figures on police recruitment, front-line policing is plummeting and crime is now rising once again on our streets."
Simon Hughes, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, added: "These figures confirm that, contrary to political promises by both the Conservative and Labour governments, there has been an unacceptable fall in the number of police officers available for ordinary duty over the last five years." The Home Office said: "The Government is committed to a highly professional, well-trained and properly resourced police service and is responding to concerns about police numbers."
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