[holding answer 26 February 2008]: Warrington was a Basic Command Unit (BCU) of Cheshire police up to March 2005. From April 2005, the Cheshire police BCUs were consolidated from six (Chester and Ellesmere Port, Congleton and Vale Royal, Crewe, Halton, Macclesfield and Warrington) to three (Eastern, Northern and Western). Therefore from April 2005 onwards Warrington falls within the Northern Area BCU of Cheshire police.
The available data are given in the following tables.
As at 31 March: Police officers3 PCSOs4 1997 2,046 — 1998 2,042 — 1999 2,071 — 2000 2,011 — 2001 2,002 — 2002 2,059 — 2003 2,119 2 2004 2,177 50 2005 2,186 52 2006 2,174 75 2007 2,192 176 1 This table contains full-time equivalent figures that have been rounded to the nearest whole number. Because of rounding, there may be an apparent discrepancy between totals and the sums of the constituent items. 2 For police officers only, full-time equivalent excludes those on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave. For police community support officers only, full-time equivalent includes those on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave. 3 For police officers only. Comparable strength (excludes those on career breaks, or maternity/paternity leave). The Police Numbers Task Force (2001) recommended that a clear presentation was made of the numbers of staff employed by police forces including those seconded into the force and those on any type of long or short term absence. These new calculations were first used in 2003, and are not comparable with data prior to March 2003. The police officered data from 2003 onwards used here are termed comparable because they have been calculated on the old basis to allow comparison. 4 Police community support officers were introduced in statute in 2002, therefore data is not available prior to 2002-03.
As at 31 March: Police officers PCSOs4 2003 318 — 2004 318 — 2005 333 — 1 This table contains full-time equivalent figures that have been rounded to the nearest whole number. Because of rounding, there may be an apparent discrepancy between totals and the sums of the constituent items. 2 Full-time equivalent includes those on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave. 3 Data have been collected at the basic command unit level from 2002-03 onwards. Warrington BCU existed up to March 2005. 4 PCSO data have been collected at the basic command unit level from 2006-07 onwards.
As at 31 March: Police officers PCSOs4 2006 520 — 2007 513 79 1 This table contains full-time equivalent figures that have been rounded to the nearest whole number. Because of rounding, there may be an apparent discrepancy between totals and the sums of the constituent items. 2 Full-time equivalent includes those on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave. 3 Data have been collected at the basic command unit level from 2002-03 onwards. Northern area BCU existed from April 2005. 4 PCSO data have been collected at the basic command unit level from 2006-07 onwards. However, the Home Office Police Human Resources Unit carried out two separate collections of police community support officer data, and as at 30 June 2005 there were 46 PCSOs, and as at 30 June 2006 there were 44.