More about this area

The force says...

Cumbria is the fourth largest police force area in England and is geographically isolated being the furthest North West force in the country.  Some 98 percent of its area is rural with only one city and five major towns. Much of the county is mountainous and it contains the country’s largest national park – Lake District (885 square miles) – as well as having a 150-mile coastline. Topography and rurality makes the county vulnerable to natural and other disasters – with three major floods in the past 10 years.

Cumbria hosts Appleby Fair, the largest travellers’ gathering in Europe, and several major summer festivals. The population is small (498,000) and sparse, but visitors swell this population every year, increasing police calls for service by an average 12 percent each week from May to October. It has areas of significant deprivation, where the police and partners formally work together, often co-located, to improve the lives of residents.

Demand has changed significantly. During 2017, 200,000 telephone calls were received, which translated into 93,600 calls for service – 37 percent were public safety incidents, 20 percent crime-related, 18 percent traffic-related, 16 percent anti-social behaviour and 9 percent administrative. On average, every week the force deals with 136 domestic abuse incidents and 96 mental health-related incidents. Missing person incidents have increased from 1,023 in 2013 to 2,497 in 2017. The change in demand has informed our new operating model where the public speak directly to an experienced police officer on the phone, solving the issue as early as possible, reducing deployment and freeing up time for the more complex incidents and crime investigations.

Since 2010, the workforce has reduced by 20 percent and £25 million has been saved from the force’s revenue budget.

Disclaimer: the above statement has been prepared by Cumbria Constabulary. The views and information in it are not necessarily those of HMICFRS.