POLICE

MINISTERS are increasingly facing complaints of rising levels of violent crime following reductions in the numbers of police officers.

Official figures show that the number of police officers in England and Wales fell from a peak of 144,353 in 2009 to 122,859 in 2016, the period when Theresa May was Home Secretary.

At the same time the number of specialist armed police officers has fallen from 6,796 in 2010 to 5,639 in 2016.

Figures from the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies show that spending on the police in England and Wales fell by 14 per cent between 2010–11 and 2014–15.