UK govt. criticized for police cuts

The British Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has accused the Coalition government of “taking risks with community safety” by cutting nearly 10,000 police officers since the general election in 2010.

After the UK Home Office’s report showed that the number of police officers numbers in the 43 forces in England and Wales has dropped by 9,625 in the recent two years, Cooper said the figures showed the promise by the British Prime Minister David Cameron “to protect the front line has been ripped apart.”

The study published on July 26, also found that the number of police officers in England and Wales has fallen by 5,000 just in the past year to its lowest level in nine years as a result of the public spending cuts, which are expected to lead to a loss of at least 15,000 officers by 2015.

“These figures show the cuts to the police are deeper and faster even than experts predicted,” she said.

“In just two years the government has taken police numbers back by nearly a decade, weakened police powers, undermined morale and reduced crime prevention. [The Home Secretary] Theresa May has no strategy to cut crime, only to cut police.”

According to the official data, the total number of police officers in the 43 police forces has fallen from 143,734 at the end of March 2012 to 134,101 this March, with the largest percentage drop seen in Derbyshire, down 10 percent.

SSM/SS/HE

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