The statistics relate to officer numbers as at 30 September 2010
The number of police officers in England and Wales fell by 2,500 in the last year, Home Office figures suggest.
There were 141,850 full-time equivalent police officers in the 43 police forces - a decrease of 2,503 officers, or 1.7%, compared to a year earlier.
Police officer strength, including officers seconded to Central Services, stood at 142,363 - a fall of 2,470.
The mid-year update contained statistics relating to staff numbers as at 30 September 2010.
The figures also revealed that there were 78,120 full-time equivalent police staff in post, which marked a fall of 2,193, or 2.7% compared with the previous year.
There was also a 2.6% drop in the number of police community support officers, of whom there were 16,376.
However, the number of special constables rose by 2,256 to 16,772.
- Published1 January 2011
- Published14 December 2010
