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, however 47 million people visit the county every year. This increases 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 2018, 257,000 telephone calls were received, which translated into 98,511 calls for service – 36 percent were public safety incidents, 30 percent crime-related, 17 percent traffic-related, 9 percent anti-social behaviour and 8 percent administrative.

Missing person incidents have increased from 1,023 in 2013 to 3,339 in 2018. The number of domestic violence incidents has increased from 7019 in 2015 to 7937 in 2018.

The change in demand informed changes to our operating model, made in 2015, where the public speak directly to an experienced police officer on the phone, solving the issue as early as possible, reducing deployments and freeing up time for the more complex incidents and crime investigation to be undertaken, which has been supported by an investment in investigators.

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.