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<p>The Home Office collects and publishes data annually on the function of police
workers, as at 31 March each year, in the ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical
bulletin 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>Since
2012, the Home Office has published statistics on the functions of police workers
which includes a “neighbourhood policing” function. From 31 March 2015 onwards, the
Home Office replaced the ‘old’ functions framework with the Chartered Institute of
Public Finance and Accountancy’s (CIPFA) Police Objective Analysis (POA) framework.
The POA framework also includes a “neighbourhood policing” function although the two
frameworks are not directly comparable.</p><p>Data on the number of full-time equivalent
(FTE) police officers and Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) in neighbourhood
policing roles, collected under the CIPFA POA framework, in Devon and Cornwall, between
31 March 2015 and 2023, can be found in Tables F1 and F3 of the data tables accompanying
each publication. The Home Office do not hold directly comparable data on the number
of police officers and PCSOs employed in neighbourhood policing roles for years prior
to 2015.</p><p>Table 1 shows the number of FTE police officers and PCSOs employed
in neighbourhood policing roles in Devon and Cornwall between the 31 March 2015 and
2023. As at 31 March 2023, there were 264 FTE police officers employed in neighbourhood
policing roles in Devon and Cornwall, an increase of 1.6% (4 FTE) compared to March
2015. The number of officers in neighbourhood policing roles had been declining between
2015 and 2018, when it reached a low of 220 FTE, before increasing year on year to
levels seen in March 2015. Whilst the number of officers in neighbourhood police officers
is similar to 2015, the proportion has decreased by 1.2 percentage points from 8.9%
in 2015 to 7.7% in 2023.</p><p>As at 31 March 2023, there were 129 FTE PCSOs employed
in neighbourhood policing roles, a decrease of 61.2% (204 FTE) compared to March 2015
when there were 333 FTE PCSOs employed in neighbourhood policing roles. Whilst the
number of PCSOs has been declining, the proportion of PCSOs employed in neighbourhood
policing roles has remained consistent.</p><p><strong>Table 1: Number and proportion
of full-time equivalent police officers and PCSOs employed in neighbourhood policing
roles, as at 31 March 2015 to 2023, Devon and Cornwall</strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td
rowspan="2"><p><strong>As at 31 March</strong></p></td><td colspan="2"><p><strong>Police
officers</strong></p></td><td colspan="2"><p><strong>PCSOs</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Number</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Proportion
(%)</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Number</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Proportion
(%)</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2015</p></td><td><p>260</p></td><td><p>8.9</p></td><td><p>333</p></td><td><p>100.0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2016</p></td><td><p>240</p></td><td><p>8.4</p></td><td><p>339</p></td><td><p>100.0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2017</p></td><td><p>231</p></td><td><p>8.2</p></td><td><p>300</p></td><td><p>100.0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2018</p></td><td><p>220</p></td><td><p>7.7</p></td><td><p>245</p></td><td><p>100.0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2019</p></td><td><p>228</p></td><td><p>7.9</p></td><td><p>203</p></td><td><p>100.0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2020</p></td><td><p>228</p></td><td><p>7.7</p></td><td><p>189</p></td><td><p>100.0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2021</p></td><td><p>236</p></td><td><p>8.0</p></td><td><p>164</p></td><td><p>100.0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2022</p></td><td><p>253</p></td><td><p>7.9</p></td><td><p>154</p></td><td><p>99.4</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2023</p></td><td><p>264</p></td><td><p>7.7</p></td><td><p>129</p></td><td><p>100.0</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><strong><br>
</strong>Some forces are not able to make a clear distinction between certain subfunctions
and therefore record the majority of, or all, employees under one function. This is
particularly apparent for the ‘Neighbourhood Policing’ (1a) and ‘Incident (Response)
Management’ (1b) functions, so the Home Office recommends using the wider function
of “Local Policing”. Data for local policing is shown in Table 2 below.</p><p><strong>Table
2: Number and proportion of full-time equivalent police officers and PCSOs employed
in local policing roles, as at 31 March 2015 to 2023, Devon and Cornwall</strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td
rowspan="2"><p><strong>As at 31 March</strong></p></td><td colspan="2"><p><strong>Police
officers</strong></p></td><td colspan="2"><p><strong>PCSOs</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Number</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Proportion
(%)</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Number</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Proportion
(%)</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2015</p></td><td><p>1,393</p></td><td><p>47.5</p></td><td><p>333</p></td><td><p>100.0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2016</p></td><td><p>1,310</p></td><td><p>45.8</p></td><td><p>339</p></td><td><p>100.0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2017</p></td><td><p>1,259</p></td><td><p>44.9</p></td><td><p>300</p></td><td><p>100.0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2018</p></td><td><p>1,291</p></td><td><p>45.5</p></td><td><p>245</p></td><td><p>100.0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2019</p></td><td><p>1,304</p></td><td><p>45.0</p></td><td><p>203</p></td><td><p>100.0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2020</p></td><td><p>1,416</p></td><td><p>47.6</p></td><td><p>189</p></td><td><p>100.0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2021</p></td><td><p>1,459</p></td><td><p>49.5</p></td><td><p>164</p></td><td><p>100.0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2022</p></td><td><p>1,522</p></td><td><p>47.7</p></td><td><p>154</p></td><td><p>99.4</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2023</p></td><td><p>1,679</p></td><td><p>48.8</p></td><td><p>129</p></td><td><p>100.0</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><strong>
</strong></p><p>Data for the ‘as at 31 March 2024’ publication will be published in
July 2024 as part of the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin.</p>
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