Citizens in Policing 2018 Benchmarking Exercise : September 2018

This is the second national benchmarking exercise across ‘Citizens in Policing’ in England and Wales, the first having been completed in 2016. This benchmarking report presents data across the police forces of England and Wales and also for the British Transport Police, with a focus primarily on Special Constables, Police Support Volunteers, Volunteer Police Cadets and volunteers within OPCCs. The aims of the benchmarking report are: • To present the most comprehensive available data picture of Citizens in Policing; • To identify strategic opportunities and challenges, in respect of the ongoing delivery of the Citizens in Policing national strategy, based upon the data; • To identify key gaps in data. The data within the benchmarking report is derived from three principal sources: • A benchmarking survey distributed to the 44 police forces in March 2018 by the Institute for Public Safety, Crime and Justice (IPSCJ) and completed by all 44 police forces; • An annual census survey completed by all police forces in January 2018, distributed by the Volunteer Police Cadets national hub and analysed by the IPSCJ, covering Volunteer Police Cadets and the Mini Police; • Analysis of the national police workforce statistics for England and Wales, which have been published since 1998. The latest iteration of this data was published by the Home Office in July 2018 relating to 31st March 2018. This data set primarily relates to Special Constables, but for the first time includes overall PSV numbers for each force as part of the national data set.