Shropshire Star

West Mercia traffic police numbers down by third

The number of full-time traffic policing officers in West Mercia, which covers Shropshire, has fallen by a third since 2010.

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Analysis of Home Office data by the RAC shows there were 70 traffic officers in West Mercia in March 2015, for which the latest figures are available, compared to 101 in March 2010.

The RAC said the figures made for "grim reading" but police chiefs insisted they were committed to road safety.

Superintendent Daryn Elton, of West Mercia Police, said: "The figures do not reflect the work done by the Safer Roads Partnership to reduce casualties and make the roads safer for all users in West Mercia through targeted communication, education and training together with enforcement.

"We are also part of the Central Motorway Policing Group (CMPG) which is made up of officers and staff from West Midlands, West Mercia and Staffordshire police forces. Their focus is to disrupt criminality and make the region's roads safer. All of our officers have the ability to enforce roads policing offences."

The RAC study revealed 30 out of 42 forces nationally cut their staff for this role from 2014 to 2015 resulting in an overall reduction of five per cent.

Since 2010 the number of dedicated roads policing officers has been slashed by 27 per cent, the study found.

Pete Williams, of the RAC, said: "These figures make for grim reading and are likely to be met with dismay by law-abiding motorists. While some of the numbers may be explained by organisational changes, such as officers taking on multiple roles and police forces working in partnership to tackle crime, the data still clearly shows that a majority of forces have seen a further fall in the number of officers whose primary responsibility is tackling crime on our roads."

Releasing the figures in response to a Parliamentary question asked by Labour MP Jack Dromey, Police Minister Mike Penning wrote: "Decisions on the size and composition of the police workforce are operational matters for chief officers working with their Police and Crime Commissioners and taking into account local priorities.

"What matters is how officers are deployed, not how many of them there are."

The RAC analysis does not include the Metropolitan Police as the merging of units means its figures cannot be compared with other forces.

The Commons' Transport Select Committee published a report in March calling on the Government to halt the decline in specialist roads policing officers.

Department for Transport figures for 2014 show that road fatalities grew by four per cent from the previous year to 1,775 and the number of people seriously injured increased by five per cent to 22,807.

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