More about this area

Surrey Police serves a population of 1.20 million covering an area of 642 square miles. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire, and Berkshire and is divided into 11 boroughs and districts. The county’s residents are 48.7% male, 51.3% female, 18.9% are aged over 65 with 61.9 % aged 16-64 and 20.4% aged under 16.

90.5% of residents identify as white/white other and 9.5% identify as Black, Asian, Minority ethnicity.

Surrey’s roads carry almost double the national average amount of traffic and its 62 miles of motorway include the busiest stretch of the M25, with both Gatwick and Heathrow Airports bordering the force.

Annually, Surrey hosts the Epsom Derby attracting over 100,000 racegoers, and a range of other sporting and cultural events.

Demand continues to increase in all areas of policing within the county. Over the past twelve months to 30 September 2023, Surrey Police received a total of 425,537 calls for service, with 184,638 emergency 999 calls and 240,899 non-emergency 101 calls and 330,000 digital contacts, leading to the recording of 280,368 incidents. Public safety and welfare issues currently make up 38.3% of all incidents.

The total number of crimes reported was 74,012; an increase of 9.2% compared to relatively low levels during the COVID-19 pandemic (Oct 20 to Sep 21). The complexity of these investigations; especially those involving digital media and communications data, or safeguarding issues, continues to increase. The use of technology in offending continues to increase; often directed at those most vulnerable in our county.

Mental health issues continue to impact demand for the Force increasing as a percentage of total incident demand over the last twelve months. A number of partnership initiatives have been put in place to assist in reducing this demand, including the introduction of the Surrey High Intensity Partnership Programme, to provide a consistent response to high risk and high demand patients to ensure that the response provided by officers is appropriate to the individual’s needs.

The force is focusing on those issues that impact the public most; safeguarding those who call on our service, cyber-enabled crime, sexual assaults and the serious threats of insurgent crime (‘County Lines’ criminality), and continues to enhance its partnership problem solving capability in support of neighbourhood policing.

In order to manage these issues, the force has invested heavily in its preventative policing approach. Op Uplift ended on 31 March 2023, there is now a requirement to ensure that the force maintain the officer baseline of 2,289 in 2023/20234. The force has also bid to recruit 10 officers over this total, so our enhanced target is 2,299. At the end of September there were 2,325 officers in force. This uplift will help to support neighbourhood prevention and intervention, safeguarding, and cyber-enabled crime.

To continue in delivering savings, the force continues to collaborate both bilaterally and regionally, seeking to maximise opportunities for efficiency.

Surrey Police serves a population of 1.19 million covering an area of 642 square miles. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire, and Berkshire and is divided into 11 boroughs and districts. The county’s residents are 49% male, 51% female, 19% are aged over 65 with 61% aged 16-64 and 20% aged under 16.

90.4% of residents identify as white/white other and 9.6% identify as BAME Black, Asian, Minority ethnicity.

Surrey’s roads carry almost double the national average amount of traffic and its 62 miles of motorway include the busiest stretch of the M25, with both Gatwick and Heathrow Airports bordering the force.

Annually, Surrey hosts the Epsom Derby attracting over 100,000 racegoers, and a range of other sporting and cultural events.

Demand continues to increase all areas of policing within the county. Over the past twelve months to 30 April 2022, Surrey Police received a total of 448,847 calls for service, with 153,777 emergency 999 calls and 286, 756 non-emergency 101 calls and digital contacts, recording 279,086 incidents. Public safety and welfare issues currently make up 37.9% of all incidents.

The total number of crimes reported was 70,946; an increase of 5.1% compared to relatively low levels during the Covid-19 pandemic. The complexity of these investigations; especially those involving digital media and communications data, or safeguarding issues, continues to increase. The use of technology in offending continues to increase; often directed at those most vulnerable in our county.

Mental health issues continue to impact demand for the Force increasing as a percentage of total incident demand over the last twelve months. A number of partnership initiatives have been put in place to assist in reducing this demand, including the introduction of the Surrey High Intensity Partnership Programme, to provide a consistent response to high risk and high demand patients to ensure that the response provided by officers is appropriate to the individual’s needs.

The force is focusing on those issues that impact the public most; safeguarding those who call on our service, cyber-enabled crime, sexual assaults and the serious threats of insurgent crime (‘County Lines’ criminality), and continues to enhance its partnership problem solving capability in support of neighbourhood policing.

In order to manage these issues, the force has invested heavily in its preventative policing approach over the past two years of Op Uplift and precept increases, and will continue in the final year of Op Uplift to support neighbourhood prevention and intervention, safeguarding, and cyber-enabled crime.

To continue in delivering savings, the force continues to collaborate both bilaterally and regionally, seeking to maximise opportunities for efficiency.