Police officers in this police force
Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.21.022160
I note you seek access to the following information:
The number of police officers (preferably divided by function) in this police force. By function, I mean rank, as Chief Officer, Inspector, Sergeant, Constable, etc, per each year since 2003 ( or the earliest available) until 2020.
The data needs to be at the Basic Command Unit (BCU) level, not at the police force level.
Decision
I have today decided to disclose the located information to you in full.
Please find below information pursuant to your request above.
Annual Strength of Police Officers By Rank
The figures below are for officers attached to Basic Command Units (BCU) and Borough Command Units (BOCU* Between 2017 -2019)* the Met moved from Borough Command Unit (BOCU) based policing to the Basic Command Unit (BCU). This included restructuring of roles and responsibilities between Business Groups throughout the MPS.
| Rank | March - 2005 | March - 2006 | March - 2007 | March - 2008 | March - 2009 | March - 2010 | March - 2011 |
| Commander | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Chief Superintendent | 31 | 32 | 26 | 27 | 25 | 22 | 20 |
| Detective Chief Superintendent | 2 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 9 | 10 |
| Superintendent | 63 | 64 | 52 | 50 | 52 | 51 | 46 |
| Detective Superintendent | 14 | 14 | 14 | 19 | 16 | 16 | 18 |
| Chief Inspector | 129 | 120 | 118 | 115 | 109 | 115 | 105 |
| Detective Chief Inspector | 57 | 53 | 58 | 53 | 53 | 59 | 61 |
| Inspector | 606 | 620 | 610 | 623 | 649 | 596 | 579 |
| Detective Inspector | 169 | 191 | 185 | 207 | 211 | 185 | 205 |
| Police Sergeant | 2221 | 2400 | 2563 | 2611 | 2689 | 2779 | 2818 |
| Detective Sergeant | 684 | 691 | 765 | 735 | 793 | 841 | 834 |
| Police Constable | 13348 | 13064 | 12823 | 12606 | 12667 | 13734 | 12926 |
| Detective Constable | 1920 | 2022 | 1884 | 2059 | 2132 | 2192 | 2328 |
| Grand Total | 19244 | 19274 | 19105 | 19112 | 19403 | 20599 | 19951 |
| March - 2012 | March - 2013 | March - 2014 | March - 2015 | March - 2016 | March - 2017 | March - 2018 | March - 2019 | March - 2020 | March - 2021 |
| 1 | |||||||||
| 21 | 17 | 18 | 18 | 28 | 25 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 10 |
| 11 | 12 | 14 | 17 | 1 | 2 | 2 | |||
| 41 | 34 | 20 | 36 | 35 | 40 | 41 | 37 | 36 | 36 |
| 22 | 19 | 13 | 19 | 22 | 24 | 25 | 19 | 21 | 22 |
| 77 | 108 | 98 | 70 | 56 | 39 | 24 | 41 | 45 | 33 |
| 40 | 61 | 62 | 40 | 33 | 25 | 13 | 31 | 33 | 18 |
| 530 | 446 | 385 | 321 | 289 | 281 | 306 | 262 | 249 | 297 |
| 213 | 173 | 125 | 132 | 131 | 120 | 139 | 132 | 105 | 146 |
| 2463 | 2099 | 1836 | 1487 | 1526 | 1394 | 1313 | 1233 | 1199 | 1184 |
| 808 | 732 | 589 | 557 | 525 | 508 | 515 | 611 | 608 | 646 |
| 13029 | 11964 | 12288 | 13829 | 13442 | 12666 | 11315 | 11547 | 12925 | 13304 |
| 2288 | 2243 | 2275 | 2083 | 1957 | 1861 | 2073 | 2407 | 2515 | 2750 |
| 19544 | 17907 | 17723 | 18609 | 18044 | 16982 | 15775 | 16332 | 17750 | 18449 |