One-third of the 43 police forces in England and Wales have cut officer numbers in the past financial year.
Overall, the Police Service added 1,911 officers, but the number fell at 16 forces , according to Police Review.
The Yorkshire region was hit the hardest, with South Yorkshire, Humberside Police and North Yorkshire lsoing 148, 133 and 121 officers respectively.
The forces insisted the cuts had not affected crime. North Yorkshire said no police officers had been made redundant.
There are now 141,647 warranted officers overall, an increase of 1.4% on last year.
Tim Hollis, an Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) vice-president and chief constable of Humberside Police, told the magazine: “This snapshot of police service strength shows the variable impact of both police funding and developments of workforce modernisation arrangements over the year.”
Meanwhile, a Treasury sub-committee report on savings in the public sector, published last week, prompted a Conservative MP to call for all police forces to start “rationing back their back[-office] departments.”
Michael Fallon, Tory MP for Sevenoaks, told Police Review: “Every force does not need its own HR department.”
