This article is more than 11 years old

This article is more than 11 years old

Police numbers have hit a record high in England and Wales, with 143,770 officers in post in March this year, according to official figures out today.

The Home Office said this was an increase of 1,911 officers over the previous 12 months and included 1,200 constables.

The increase includes 648 police community support officers, who have a patrolling role, to bring their total to 16,331. The number of such officers has grown rapidly from only 1,176 when the role were introduced in 2003.

The new figures for the 43 police forces in England and Wales indicate that budget cuts and efficiency savings being faced by chief constables have not yet led to a reduction in police numbers.

However there was not a uniform rise across the country. While 27 forces increased their numbers, including an extra 1,100 recruited by the Metropolitan police in London, 16 forces reported a fall in numbers. The largest falls were recorded in North and South Yorkshire and Humberside.

Women now represent 27% of rank and file police officers but only hold 13% of senior posts.

There are now 6,290 black and minority ethnic police officers, an increase of 497 in the last year. However this represents only 4.4% of the total and fails to meet the 7% race equality target set for the police.