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Special Constables

Home Department written question – answered on 19th March 2002.

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Photo of Theresa May Theresa May Shadow Secretary of State for Transport

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many special constables there were, broken down by (a) police force and (b) local authority area, in each year since 1997.

Photo of John Denham John Denham Minister (Home Office) (Police and Crime Reduction)

The number of serving special constables in each police force area from September 1997 to September 2001 are set out in the table. Data showing the number of specials per local authority is not held centrally.

Police force September 1997 September 1998 September 1999 September 2000 September 2001
Avon and Somerset 629 584 482 416 391
Bedfordshire 186 175 148 134 119
Cambridgeshire 336 308 293 214 197
Cheshire 491 416 358 307 233
Cleveland 157 136 108 122 98
Cumbria 184 210 193 167 125
Derbyshire 414 355 303 286 263
Devon and Cornwall 1,079 916 908 836 780
Dorset 325 303 287 278 258
Durham 178 159 169 155 146
Essex 641 590 528 478 413
Gloucestershire 287 245 221 197 153
Greater Manchester 657 567 498 408 355
Hampshire 681 747 720 541 444
Hertfordshire 306 267 232 214 177
Humberside 348 289 263 198 207
Kent 588 565 484 416 366
Lancashire 500 465 397 362 325
Leicestershire 402 350 303 202 155
Lincolnshire 273 233 218 179 160
London, City of 84 69 66 46 34
Merseyside 407 463 467 452 507
Metropolitan police 1,528 1,214 1,173 754 753
Norfolk 346 351 317 270 240
Northamptonshire 314 262 210 195 184
Northumbria 480 352 356 323 276
North Yorkshire 337 302 245 189 186
Nottinghamshire 597 530 405 411 281
South Yorkshire 295 266 236 193 189
Staffordshire 643 558 460 461 395
Suffolk 300 402 420 376 322
Surrey 231 226 205 168 176
Sussex 465 415 377 317 301
Thames Valley 694 587 514 463 377
Warwickshire 379 323 260 260 208
West Mercia 558 499 512 443 364
West Midlands 949 784 697 662 604
West Yorkshire 604 590 572 452 371
Wiltshire 150 176 182 172 160
Dyfed Powys 241 237 237 193 174
Gwent 149 114 110 131 148
North Wales 388 336 262 233 203
South Wales 362 360 331 254 250

Note:

Figures provided by Research, Development and Statistics

The Government are committed to increasing the size of the special constabulary and are working on a number of options designed to achieve this. These include improvements to the recruitment, training, conditions, management and deployment of specials—focusing their role on intelligence-led, high visibility patrolling and local crime reduction initiatives.

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