They have been cuting the uk police budget year on year for ages
Police numbers are now back where they were in the early 00's. Yes there have been cuts, but only from a historic high in 2009. But if crime really is reducing, then we need fewer police anyway, and if it's not, the police should be focussing what resources they do have on serious crimes. Not "things people say on Twitter" (or "cybercrime" as they call it)
Half the "police" I see are PCSOs or "Traffic Officers" (who appear to be impersonating police AFAICT) are they included in figures?
In our UK city we don't have traffic wardens (who were part of the police authority I gather), instead there are private parking attendants and PCSOs do an occasional blitz.
Police used to be regularly on patrol in the town centre, but there's only volunteers and private security now; maybe that's atypical.
The absolute numbers of police is not the issue, it's how they are allocated or how they choose to spend their time. Policing random people being mean to celebrities on Twitter seems to be a lot easier than walking the best...
