Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police officers were employed as crime prevention officers in each police force in England and Wales in (a) 2010 and (b) 2014.

All police officers are involved in crime prevention and this Government has been clear that the police should focus on cutting crime. Crime has fallen by more than a fifth since 2010, according to the Crime Survey for England and
Wales. Figures specifically on the number of crime prevention officers are not collected by the Home Office.

The table provided contains statistics on the number and proportion of police officers in the community safety/relations and neighbourhoods functions categories, as at 31 March 2010 to 2014.

These figures will not necessarily cover all police officers assigned to crime prevention roles, and will contain some officers who are not directly involved in crime prevention. However, the functions provided are considered to be the
closest to those requested.

As can be seen in the figures, the number of crime prevention officers, under this definition, in England and Wales has risen from 20,926 in 2010 to 25,098 in 2014. This represents an increase from 14.6% to 19.6% of total officers.