West Mercia Police officer numbers drop by 300 in seven years

As of April this year there were 2,079 serving police officers, which is 345 less than in April 2010, according to figures from a Freedom of Information request.

In April 2016 there were 2,105 police officers covering the area, and 2,042 in 2015.

At the lowest, there were 1,995 officers in April 2014.

The number of police constables has dropped by 219 since April 2010 according to the figures.

West Mercia's force area covers 2,868 miles, including Shropshire, and is the fourth largest police area in England and Wales.

West Mercia Police Assistant Chief Constable Martin Evans said an investment has been made in technology to modernise the way the force works.

He said: "In 2010 we commenced a significant change programme as part of our preparations to work jointly as a strategic alliance with Warwickshire Police.

"This four year plan enabled both forces to maximise the protection delivered to communities and meet the demands of our reducing operating budgets.

"Our plan ensured that, across the alliance, the right people were in the right place at the right time to effectively protect people from harm.

"Since then, we have continued to work hard to ensure that we offer an effective and efficient policing service."

He added: "Our current Looking to 2020 change programme seeks to meet the new challenges of policing whilst maintaining the confidence and satisfaction of the public in what we do.

"The alliance’s current investment in technology is modernising the way we work, helping us to operate with maximum effectiveness and spend as much time as possible out and about in our local communities.

"Modern, mobile technology provides officers with fast access to intelligence and the ability to respond to incidents more quickly.

"This means that we are able to offer a more flexible, agile and visible policing service to better meet the needs of our communities and protect the most vulnerable people from harm."