Boris Johnson's police cuts confirmed by Home Office

Latest Home Office data published today show that police numbers are falling sharply in London. There were 31,657 Metropolitan police officers in September 2011, a fall of 1,243 from September 2010. This represents a fall 3.8% over the year.
 
The decline in police numbers is accelerating, with 784 fewer police in the latest 6 months alone. Two days ago Boris Johnson admitted to LBC listeners that police numbers have fallen during his mayoral term. The latest figures from the Metropolitan police have confirmed that Boris Johnson cut 1,782 police officers in the last 18 months. Yesterday, at Mayoral Question Time the Tory Mayor reverted to his previous stance arguing that police numbers are not falling.
 
These Home Office data definitively show that police numbers are falling.  In fact they have fallen from their peak level of 33,260 in 2009/10 - a level of policing Boris Johnson inherited from Ken Livingstone's budget.
 

A spokesperson for Ken Livingstone said:
 
"This time last year Boris Johnson promised to increase the number of police officers in London by this year. Today's Home Office figures show they have fallen while violent crimes including knife crime, robbery, rape and murder have all risen."
 

1.    Data on police strength is provided by the Home Office, Police Numbers in England and Wales here>

2. MPA police numbers data to October are shown here >
 
3. MPA annual police numbers data are showing a fall of 1,782 police officers in 18 months here >

4. Listen to Boris Johnson on LBC admitting 1700 officers have been cut in the last 18 months here >