Shropshire Star

West Mercia bucks traffic cop cuts trend

West Mercia police force is one of only five across the UK to have increased the number of traffic officers in the last 10 years.

Published

The number of dedicated traffic police officers has fallen by nearly a third in the last decade, an investigation has revealed.

But in West Mercia, which includes Shropshire, numbers are up by 26 per cent. Neighbouring West Midlands has seen the number of dedicated traffic police officers fall by more than half, 384 in 2007, the most outside London, to 186 officers today.

West Mercia Chief Constable Anthony Bangham, who speaks on roads policing for the National Police Chiefs' Council, said: "Individual police forces decide how best to allocate resources and keep their communities safe.

"Some may choose to reduce the numbers of specialist traffic officers, but this does not mean that their roads are not adequately policed.

"They can deploy a range of resources, including automatic number plate recognition technology, targeted patrols using unmarked vans, high vantage points and helmet cams to catch offenders.

"All police officers are available to help those who are traffic policing specialists."

Experts have questioned how new laws, such as the ban on using mobiles while driving, can be enforced.

The Press Association submitted a Freedom of Information request to all 45 territorial forces asking how many dedicated traffic officers they have compared with five and 10 years ago.

The results reveal cuts have accelerated in the past five years with numbers falling 24 per cent since 2012, while overall the number is down 30 per cent since 2007.

In 2007 there were 3,766 traffic officers in the forces which responded. In 2012 that figure stood at 3,472. By 2017 it had dropped to 2,643.

The AA said the decline could see more drivers getting away with crimes.

"The UK has among the safest roads in Europe, although the number of people killed and seriously injured on our roads has started to rise after many years of steady decline. Maybe there is a link?"

He added: "Even senior officers have publicly expressed concern at the falling number of their colleagues."

Responding to the figures, the Home Office said effective road policing is not just dependent on dedicated traffic officers, while the National Police Chiefs' Council pointed out that all officers were able to help traffic specialists.

Labour's shadow minister for policing and crime Louise Haigh, a former special constable, said: "These savage cuts will deeply alarm the public as reckless drivers will feel able to offend with impunity."

"The police don't stand a cat in hell's chance of pursuing and convicting people under these offences with ever-constrained resources."

Jason Wakeford, from road safety charity Brake, commented: "On average, five people die every single day on our roads. This is unacceptable.

"The Government and police forces have to start treating road policing as a national priority and reverse the savage cuts to officer numbers."