Number of police officers in South Yorkshire branded "scandalous"
It is “scandalous” that South Yorkshire Police only has 21 bobbies on the beat per 100,000 people, the chairman of South Yorkshire Police Federation has said.
The total police workforce in South Yorkshire is now 3,073 - down from 3,250 in 2007 – which equates to 220 officers per 100,000.
But only a fraction of these are neighbourhood police officers, claims Steve Kent, from the South Yorkshire branch of the Police Federation.
On average, forces in England and Wales have 200 officers per 100,000 people, way below other European countries such as Germany, France, Spain and Ireland, he said.
At the top of the list, Turkey and Greece both have over 500 officers per 100,000 people. Italy and Portugal have over 400 officers per 100,000 people, over double the numbers in England and Wales.
Mr Kent said: “These figures are scandalous and need urgent action.
“They show the horrendous way in which policing has been neglected for too long in the UK and the extraordinary demand that British police officers face with such limited resources.
“This is a particular problem for South Yorkshire Police, as we have one of the poorest budgets and lowest officer numbers-versus-demand in the entire country.
“So not only do these numbers need looking at overall, they need to be looked at even more urgently for South Yorkshire Police.
“It’s not fair for the officers, staff or the public of South Yorkshire that our numbers are that low.”
Tiff Lynch, acting chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales, told the MailOnline, which collated the figures: "A sustained recruitment and retention programme for police officers is desperately needed."