Police numbers fall in six out of ten forces

Of the 43 forces in England and Wales, 26 saw a reduction in the number of officers employed over six months.

Three forces lost more than 50 officers, including South Yorkshire police, West Yorkshire police and Avon and Somerset Constabulary.

But increases in other areas pushed the country-wide total up slightly. Force strength in the Metropolitan Police force was up more than 2% or 763 officers and officer numbers were up in Greater Manchester, Essex and Thames Valley. There are now 144,833 officers employed across all forces after a small increase of 0.4% - or 583 officers - between March and September last year.

Opposition leaders said the figures were a "worrying sign" of future cuts. Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said: "This is a worrying sign of what is to come as budgets are cut and numbers fall in over half of all police forces. Instead of squandering billions on ID cards, the Government should concentrate on getting more police officers out on the beat.

"The Liberal Democrats are the only party committed to increasing police numbers of every area of the country. It is time for the other parties to come clean about their plans."

But Home Secretary Alan Johnson said officer numbers remained "historically high". He said ministers had guaranteed funding to "maintain frontline strength" until 2013.

"Police officer numbers remain historically high and they are doing a great job - crime is down and public confidence is up. But it is not all about numbers, the force must carry on tackling crimes that matter most to the public and that is why the Government has guaranteed funding to maintain frontline strength until 2013.

"The increase in civilian staff is freeing up officers, allowing them to dedicate more time to protecting the public and keeping the country safe. Next year's police investment will go up to more than 9.7bn and it is for chief constables to spend it where it is most needed to get the right size and mix of police workforce to ensure crime keeps dropping."