The unprecedented growth in police budgets and numbers in the last 10 years have not markedly improved police performance, and the public have not seen benefits comparable to the huge investment made.

The police were not spared the axe in last year’s Comprehensive Spending Review, with 20 per cent budget reductions predicted. In the wake of August’s riots in England, police funding is now more relevant than ever. Blair Gibbs of Policy Exchange argues that massive amounts of extra funding have been poured into the police in the last 10 years, increasing officers by 15 per cent and civilian staff by 73 per cent, and that despite these increases we have not seen a significant rise in police performance, productivity, or in the public’s perception of their effectiveness.