More about this area
The force says...
Leicestershire Police covers 979 square miles with a mixture of urban and rural landscape which has seen a 13 percent population increase since 2001 to 1,017,697. A diverse ethnic population makes up 21.6 percent of the current population and represents an increase of 39.4 percent over the last decade. There are 130 languages and dialects spoken in the city of Leicester.
The force made estimated savings of £65.89m between 2011/12 and 2017/18. Although there has been a decrease of 560 police officers since 2010, the force is able to increase the establishment by 24 PCs to over 1,800 in 2018/19. Police staff numbers have remained relatively static. The proportion of police officers in frontline roles has risen from 91 percent to 94.8 percent since 2010. The establishment for PCSOs has increased from 229 to 251.
In 2006 the police officer to citizen ratio was one police officer for 430 citizens, today there is one police officer per 602 citizens, a 40 percent increase.
In September 2017 the End Child Poverty campaign showed levels of child poverty in Leicester have increased to 40.6 percent; placing Leicester city authority one place higher at 8th nationally in the levels of child poverty.
During the last decade to 2016-17 there has been a reduction of 23.8 percent in overall recorded crime.
However, there have been significant increases in areas that present a high risk of harm to the vulnerable, such as:
- 35 percent increase in rapes – 503 in 2016 to 678 in 2017.
- 73 percent increase in homicides – 11 in 2016 to 19 in 2017.
- 1,630 referrals to the Children’s Desk a month in 2017, representing a 39 percent increase on 2016.
- Average missing person reports per month was 3,628 in 2016 and 4,159 in 2017, an increase of 15 percent. With 812 high-risk missing person reports in 2016 and 1,067 in 2017 – an increase of 31 percent.
Disclaimer: the above statement has been prepared by Leicestershire Police. The views and information in it are not necessarily those of HMICFRS.