The UK public spending watchdog have said that Ministers are not aware of the impact of funding cuts on the police service.
The National Audit Office called the approach to funding the police force are “detached” and “ineffective” from the demands that law and order staff face on a daily basis.
The spending watchdog felt that the loss of 45,000 police officers had not been dealt with properly by the Home Office, and they had not thought through how this would impact on the remaining staff.
The NAO reported that there has been a 19% drop in funding for the police since the Tories came into power in 2010. Officer numbers grew during the Labour government from 2002 onwards, peaking in 2009.
Worryingly the police are struggling to maintain an effective service and to keep the public safe. There have been concerns that crimes like burglary and car theft and rarely investigated, due to lack of available staff.
The number of police employees had fallen from 244,497 in 2010 to 199,752, and the proportion of reported crimes resulting in a charge or summons had fallen from 15% in 2015 to 9%.
Tom McDonald, from the NAO said: “The Home Office has employed a light touch in its oversight of the 43 police forces in England and Wales and what that means is it does not really understand the nature of the demand facing those police forces.”
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