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Police Cautions

Volume 463: debated on Tuesday 24 July 2007

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) cautions, (b) on-the-spot fines and (c) formal warnings were issued by each police force in each of the last 10 years, for which figures are available. (152033)

The number of defendants cautioned from 1996 to 2005 in England and Wales, broken down by police force area is shown in the following table. Data for 2006 will be available in the autumn of 2007.

In addition, the Penalty Notice for Disorder (PND) Scheme was introduced to all police forces in England and Wales in 2004. Under the scheme, police can issue ‘on-the-spot fines’ of £50 or £80 for a specified range of minor disorder offences. The number of PNDs issued in 2004 and 2005 by police force area, together with provisional data for 2006, is shown in the following tables.

Formal warnings were also introduced in 2004; the number of offenders issued with a formal warning for 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07 is shown in the following tables. These data are presented by financial year, rather than calendar year.

Number of defendants cautioned, in England and Wales, broken down by police force area, 1996 to 20051,2

Police force area

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

Avon and Somerset

3,910

3,773

4,534

5,197

4,764

4,351

4,286

4,615

5,075

6,107

Bedfordshire

2,664

2,940

2,789

2,833

2,265

3,112

2,628

2,827

3,080

3,455

Cambridgeshire

2,523

2,477

2,621

2,569

2,308

2,207

2,114

2,063

2,618

3,985

Cheshire

4,602

4,048

4,587

3,592

3,111

2,780

2,085

3,051

3,268

4,572

City of London

1,067

1,146

751

709

559

902

1,083

974

605

807

Cleveland

7,757

7,242

5,583

4,321

3,267

3,087

3,020

3,256

3,490

3,617

Cumbria

2,688

2,902

3,015

3,032

2,337

2,505

2,392

2,615

2,753

2,652

Derbyshire

3,303

3,832

3,532

3,301

2,917

3,161

2,732

2,794

3,371

4,644

Devon and Cornwall

8,822

8,042

7,047

7,226

7,283

7,177

7,224

7,870

6,951

7,175

Dorset

1,052

964

1,741

1,787

1,926

1,787

1,709

1,789

3,114

3,115

Durham

1,668

2,014

2,089

2,393

2,349

2,424

2,681

2,628

2,160

3,137

Essex

7,829

6,717

6,064

5,296

4,690

4,640

4,330

4,277

4,799

7,530

Gloucestershire

2,458

2,331

2,897

2,754

2,848

2,828

2,815

2,590

2,696

3,822

Greater Manchester

17,874

16,297

19,716

16,142

12,389

11,181

9,774

11,063

12,778

13,184

Hampshire

8,161

7,592

6,424

7,478

7,014

7,436

6,765

7,587

8,747

9,180

Hertfordshire

2,858

3,057

2,867

2,779

3,182

3,237

3,096

3,378

3,826

4,006

Humberside

4,535

3,968

4,509

3,756

3,533

3,250

2,632

2,874

4,118

5,386

Kent

7,013

7,129

8,570

8,533

7,655

7,339

6,479

8,252

10,013

10,166

Lancashire

8,778

9,333

8,909

7,355

6,777

7,189

6,515

8,205

10,229

10,345

Leicestershire

3,644

3,155

3,409

3,202

2,512

2,149

804

2,564

3,898

5,029

Lincolnshire

3,604

2,566

2,425

1,957

1,440

1,799

2,101

2,063

2,177

3,672

Merseyside

12,807

13,763

14,205

12,159

8,216

6,142

6,331

6,165

6,388

3,785

Metropolitan Police

54,263

53,632

57,969

46,239

36,758

31,337

32,088

31,324

31,833

35,152

Norfolk

5,053

4,460

3,345

2,809

2,773

2,302

2,345

2,314

2,774

3,013

North Yorkshire

2,444

1,852

2,238

2,531

2,461

2,590

2,646

2,722

2,740

2,405

Northamptonshire

3,010

2,352

3,176

3,021

3,431

3,679

3,560

2,716

2,591

3,237

Northumbria

17,795

17,586

14,620

14,505

14,165

14,065

15,694

16,779

16,246

16,628

Nottinghamshire

6,358

5,966

5,808

5,323

5,142

5,118

3,862

4,814

4,868

7,640

South Yorkshire

5,163

4,965

5,306

6,217

3,950

4,304

4,102

4,839

4,891

9,506

Staffordshire

6,014

5,905

4,958

4,105

5,628

5,455

6,124

5,585

4,616

6,496

Suffolk

3,115

3,188

3,345

2,695

3,201

3,459

3,336

3,636

3,484

3,670

Surrey

3,297

2,861

3,514

3,914

3,213

4,097

3,675

4,793

5,435

5,654

Sussex

7,157

6,640

5,762

6,393

6,670

7,666

8,151

8,162

8,709

9,146

Thames Valley

4,377

3,705

3,209

4,626

6,790

5,157

6,149

6,534

8,243

13,337

Warwickshire

2,289

2,160

2,143

2,061

1,785

2,161

2,024

2,277

1,936

2,920

West Mercia

3,973

5,866

5,836

5,297

5,380

6,385

6,357

6,251

6,658

7,747

West Midlands

14,830

15,836

17,093

17,138

15,575

14,517

15,078

15,143

13,751

17,706

West Yorkshire

8,349

8,875

9,676

9,923

9,633

9,071

10,073

11,277

14,959

17,904

Wiltshire

1,932

2,575

2,497

2,678

2,853

2,115

1,695

2,347

1,985

2,046

Dyfed-Powys

2,240

3,109

3,452

3,313

3,185

3,495

3,761

4,491

3,170

3,973

Gwent

4,963

5,329

5,780

5,502

4,529

4,258

3,803

3,666

1,456

2,553

North Wales

3,226

3,074

3,544

3,619

3,124

3,120

3,559

3,299

3,237

2,706

South Wales

6,733

6,869

6,339

5,852

5,399

4,826

3,680

5,337

6,032

6,135

Total

286,198

282,093

287,894

266,132

238,987

229,860

225,358

241,806

255,768

298,945

1 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.

2 These data are on the principal offence basis.

Number of penalty notices for disorder issued to all offenders by police force area, all offences, England and Wales 2004 and 2005, and provisional data for 20061

Police force area

2004

2005

20062

Total

Avon and Somerset

508

3,244

3,876

7,628

Bedfordshire

503

1,239

1,602

3,344

Cambridgeshire

359

1,046

1,346

2,751

Cheshire

972

2,387

2,265

5,624

Cleveland

559

2,806

3,552

6,917

Cumbria

578

1,220

1,677

3,475

Derbyshire

656

1,593

2,537

4,786

Devon and Cornwall

1,889

5,134

6,976

13,999

Dorset

516

1,381

2,262

4,159

Durham

597

1,149

1,583

3,329

Essex

2,802

4,454

4,357

11,613

Gloucestershire

473

1,721

2,654

4,848

Greater Manchester

2,253

7,256

10,532

20,041

Hampshire

2,116

3,658

4,365

10,139

Hertfordshire

412

1,296

5,312

7,020

Humberside

1,596

3,265

5,385

10,246

Kent

767

5,032

6,889

12,688

Lancashire

5,077

10,222

12,401

27,700

Leicestershire

756

1,909

2,376

5,041

Lincolnshire

544

2,373

1,930

4,847

London, City of

60

219

305

584

Merseyside

3,929

11,937

11,269

27,135

Metropolitan

12,758

18,047

20,171

50,976

Norfolk

475

676

1,323

2,474

North Yorkshire

1,078

1,596

2,367

5,041

Northamptonshire

570

1,403

2,498

4,471

Northumbria

211

2,147

6,307

8,665

Nottinghamshire

1,060

2,119

2,205

5,384

South Yorkshire

2,098

3,710

5,989

11,797

Staffordshire

1,450

2,169

3,209

6,828

Suffolk

472

901

1,460

2,833

Surrey

203

641

2,819

3,663

Sussex

1,509

4,193

5,023

10,725

Thames Valley

1,038

5,795

6,676

13,509

Warwickshire

481

933

1,016

2,430

West Mercia

275

1,774

3,433

5,482

West Midlands

4,773

7,320

7,925

20,018

West Yorkshire

4,277

9,217

8,866

22,360

Wiltshire

610

1,080

1,224

2,914

Dyfed Powys

459

1,214

1,353

3,026

Gwent

424

1,511

1,908

3,843

North Wales

1,255

3,792

6,049

11,096

South Wales

241

1,702

5,311

7,254

England and Wales

63,639

146,481

192,583

402,703

1 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.

2 Provisional figures.

Formal warnings for cannabis possession

2004-05

2005-06

2006-07

Avon and Somerset

977

2,578

3,600

Bedfordshire

603

643

324

British Transport Police

n/a

203

430

Cambridgeshire

349

492

956

Cheshire

311

393

532

Cleveland

120

392

331

Cumbria

272

219

231

Derbyshire

665

513

497

Devon and Cornwall

1,956

1,532

1,473

Dorset

369

340

348

Durham

252

207

257

Dyfed-Powys

917

799

887

Essex

556

697

722

Gloucestershire

371

395

419

Greater Manchester

1,751

3,235

4,943

Gwent

159

396

646

Hampshire

698

1,113

1,477

Hertfordshire

258

488

1,394

Humberside

32

149

533

Kent

198

497

652

Lancashire

390

237

210

Leicestershire

154

978

1,555

Lincolnshire

79

n/a

543

London, City of

505

682

373

Merseyside

961

8,561

7,204

Metropolitan Police

13,161

21,040

30,554

Norfolk

486

638

731

Northamptonshire

120

111

206

Northumbria

199

155

1,419

North Wales

543

793

971

North Yorkshire

727

654

554

Nottinghamshire

529

855

1,077

South Wales

520

536

1,266

South Yorkshire

560

1,023

1027

Staffordshire

867

1,323

1,282

Suffolk

600

64

573

Surrey

523

482

754

Sussex

866

1,350

1,971

Thames Valley

2,232

1,883

2,431

Warwickshire

340

419

649

West Mercia

571

582

686

West Midlands

2,025

3,451

2,852

West Yorkshire

1,212

1,839

1,539

Wiltshire

274

394

231

England and Wales

39,258

63,331

81,310

n/a = Not available.