Police forces lose more than 1,000 officers – threatening Labour crime crackdown ...Middle East

Around 13 police officers quit their job every day in the past 12 months, new figures show, piling fresh pressure on Labour’s plans for law and order.

The total number of officers across the 43 forces in England and Wales fell by 1,303 between March 2024 and March 2025, according to data released by the Home Office.

It comes after Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner raised fears of further rioting and a promise by Sir Keir Starmer of a “summer crime blitz” to crack down on shoplifters, pickpockets and phone thieves.

Essex Police has said the cost of deploying officers to unrest in Epping outside a hotel hosting asylum seekers has already cost £100,000.

The trend in headcount varies across police forces, with some having added to their numbers but others losing a substantial amount.

The Met, the country’s largest force, accounts for the majority of the overall decline, having lost more than 1,000 officers since last year.

The force has been plagued by scandal over the behaviour of rogue officers in recent years and Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley says the number being sacked has increased.

But today’s figures show only 150 Met officers were sacked in the past year, compared to more than 1,085 who voluntarily resigned.

In total, 4,668 officers walked out of the job in England and Wales in the last year, an average of almost 13 per day.

The Police Federation described the resignations as “a clear warning sign” of a service that is under “immense and growing strain”.

Mark Brown, a former police officer in Dorset, who now teaches Criminology at the University of Southampton, said low morale is the main reason officers are leaving in their droves.

“Officers on the frontline feel like they are seen as being replaceable,” he told The i Paper.

“They don’t feel like they are going to be protected and they’re thinking ‘is it worth it’?

“At the same time, there is simply too much demand and officers aren’t happy about their pay and pensions.”

The total number of officers in England and Wales – which was 146,442 at the end of March – has dipped for the first time since 2018.

A spokesperson for the Police Federation of England and Wales said police pay has fallen by 23 per cent in real terms since 2010 with “frustration and anxiety deepening”.

“This isn’t just a staffing issue — it’s a public safety crisis,” they added.

Former prime minister Boris Johnson pledged to recruit a further 20,000 police officers when the Conservatives won the election in 2019 but faced repeated challenges of new recruits quitting shortly after they joined.

Johnson’s government ultimately hit their target, although the Met failed to meet its own quota and lost out on millions in funding as a result.

The Government has pledged to recruit a further 13,000 neighbourhood officers by the end of the current Parliament which will be made up of 3,000 new recruits, 3,000 existing officers who will be redeployed to neighbourhood teams, 4,000 newly recruited PCSOs and finally 3,000 additional volunteer special constables.

However, Home Office figures show the number of special constables has fallen by almost 10 per cent over the past twelve months, from 6,118 to 5,534.

Some forces have been hit harder than others – in Norfolk the number of special constables has fallen from 145 to 101.

“Where are they going to find people just to replace them?” said Mr Brown.

“Then they’ve got to double that to and meet their target for neighbourhood policing. These are volunteers – there’s no financial incentive.

“People are not queuing up at the door to be special constables, they never have been. Labour is going to struggle to hit its targets.”

He added: “Johnson’s government was clever – they chose a target at a time when police numbers were at a historic low, the only way was up.

“Labour has come in with the idea about neighbourhood policing, police officers being seen – but they’ve being hit by this wave of people going out the door, not coming in.”

Reacting to the figures, the Conservatives said the falling police numbers were a “devastating blow” to neighbourhoods dealing with rising crime and anti-social behaviour.

The figures cover the last three months of the former Conservative government, and the first nine months of Labour in power.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: “Labour has let down policing and has let down the public.

“We need police to catch criminals, respond to 999 calls, investigate crime and patrol our streets.

“Labour has massively increased our taxes, squandered the money, and now they’re reducing police numbers. The public are less safe as a result of Labour’s incompetence.”

A Home Office spokesperson said the Government is determined to re-build neighbourhood policing, and there will be an extra 3,000 officers and PCSOs in communities by March 2026 following a £200 million investment.

The spokesperson added: “Officer numbers have been stable since last July despite falling between March and June 2024, however, the promising increase in neighbourhood policing shows that we are finally seeing more officers on our streets”.

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