Police

Miss McIntosh
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers there were in England and Wales in 2009.

Mr. Hanson
There were 144,353 police officers (including those on maternity leave and career breaks) in the 43 police forces of England and Wales as at 30 September 2009.

These and other related data are published annually as part of the annual Police Service Strength Home Office Statistical Bulletin. The latest bulletin can be found at:

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/policeorg1.html

and bulletins for this and previous years are deposited in the Library of the House.