police

Chart: Police cuts still being felt in most forces
The government this week announced that almost 9,000 police officers had been recruited in England and Wales as part of a plan to increase police numbers by 20,000 by 2023.
30 April 2021 1 min read Crime and justice chart of the week
Chart: Some police forces are much more likely to prosecute violence
Once police have enough evidence to prosecute an offender, they or prosecutors must decide whether to send the case to court or deal with it informally. For violent crimes, the likelihood of a case going to court varies substantially across police forces, with some prosecuting over 80% of cases and others diverting two thirds to other resolutions such as paying compensation.
2 March 2020 1 min read Crime and justice chart of the week
Chart: No big changes in sentences after new police-assaults law
The government recently doubled the maximum sentence for assaulting a police officer to 12 months in prison, introducing a new offence of assaulting an emergency worker. So far, this change is associated with only small increases in sentences handed down in court.
24 February 2020 2 min read Crime and justice chart of the week
Chart: Stop and search has fallen, arrests from searches less so
Police can search people they suspect of having prohibited items such as drugs or weapons. Since 2011, searches have decreased by 70%. Only 12% of searches lead to arrest, but this is increasing – total arrests from searches have decreased only 38% since 2011, suggesting police are getting better at targeting offenders.
3 February 2020 1 min read Crime and justice chart of the week
Chart: Police crackdowns catch few drink drivers
Police routinely breathalyse drivers they suspect have been drinking, but also carry out an annual Christmas crackdown, breath-testing more than three times as many drivers in December as in other months.
20 January 2020 1 min read Crime and justice chart of the week
Chart: 10 times more people die in police collisions than in shootings
About 100 people a year die following contact with police in England and Wales. Public debate has often focused on deaths in custody or police shootings, but people are much more likely to die in collisions with police vehicles or in suicides following release from custody.
13 January 2020 1 min read Crime and justice chart of the week
Chart: More than 1,400 football arrests each season
Over the past five years, more than 1,400 people have been arrested on average each season for football-related offences across the top five English divisions, with incidents reported at over 1,000 different matches.
9 December 2019 1 min read Crime and justice chart of the week
Chart: When police use force, they rarely cause injury
Police reported using force on over 300,000 occasions last year, or about 850 each day, with most incidents involving either handcuffing or other restraint. Almost all force used by police resulted in no injury to the person force was used against.
25 November 2019 1 min read Crime and justice chart of the week
Chart: Police are arresting half as many people as a decade ago
A combination of legal changes and decreases in many common types of crime, together with closures of custody suites due to budget cuts, mean police are making about 760,000 fewer arrests per year now, compared to a decade ago.
14 October 2019 1 min read Crime and justice chart of the week
Chart: Over 10 years, basic police pay has fallen by 22% in real terms
A combination of government-led changes to pay mean a police constable who has just completed initial training in England and Wales is paid about £7,200 less now than they would have been in 2010, once inflation is taken into account.
16 September 2019 1 min read Crime and justice chart of the week