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<p>The number of full time equivalent police officers and PSCOs primarily employed
in Neighbourhood Policing teams and/or Safer Neighbourhood teams roles can be found
in the data tables published alongside the annual the ‘Police workforce, England and
Wales’ statistical bulletins, which can be accessed here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales</a></p><p>Officers
and PCSOs with multiple responsibilities or designations are recorded under their
primary function. The data do not therefore provide a complete picture of all officers
assigned to neighbourhood policing functions.</p><p>Some forces are not able to make
a clear distinction between ‘Neighbourhood Policing’ roles and ‘Incident (Response)
Management’ roles, therefore those forces record the majority of, or all, employees
under just one function. A more reliable measure is the number of officers employed
in ‘Local policing’ roles, which includes both neighbourhood and response functions.
This measure is available for 2015 and 2016, but not for previous years where a different
framework was used.</p><p>Any comparisons at force level should be made with care
due to collaboration arrangements between forces for particular functions. Additionally,
police functions data are often affected by re-structuring within police forces. Therefore
comparisons over time for specific functions should be made with care.</p><p>Data
as at 31 March 2015 and 31 March 2016 can be found in the Tables F1, F3 F4 and F6
of the police workforce statistics published in July 2016: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/544954/police-workforce-tabs-jul16.ods"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/544954/police-workforce-tabs-jul16.ods</a></p><p>Previous
data were collected under a different framework, with different definitions, and are
therefore not directly comparable with data as at 31 March 2015 or 2016. Data have
been published since 2012, and can be found in the supplementary data tables of the
relevant police workforce publications via the following link:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales</a></p><p>As
HMIC has made clear, there is no simple link between police numbers and crime levels,
between numbers and the visibility of police in the community, or between numbers
and the quality of service provided.</p><p>Decisions on the size and composition of
the police workforce are operational matters for Chief Officers working with their
Police and Crime Commissioners and taking into account local priorities. The next
release of ‘Police workforce’ statistics is due to be published on 20<sup>th</sup>
July, and will represent the picture as at 31 March 2017.</p>
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