The number of police officers in England and Wales has fallen to its lowest level in a decade, figures show.
There were 135,838 officers in the 43 police forces at the end of September last year, more than 6,000 fewer than the previous year and fewer than at any point since 2002, the Home Office data showed.
The figures, which show the number of officers fell by more than 3,000 from last March alone, come as Gloucestershire Police Chief Constable Tony Melville warned of the dangers of further cuts to his force's budget, saying it put them on a "metaphorical cliff edge".
A further 423 officers were seconded to central services and 2,610 represented the British Transport Police.
While officer numbers fell 4.2%, police staff numbers across the 43 forces fell 11.3%, down by almost 9,000 to 69,407, the figures showed.
But the number of special constables - volunteers - went up by more than 2,500 (15.5%) to 19,366.
Only one force, Surrey, increased its officer numbers over the 12 months to last September, up 97 (5.2%) to 1,961.
The number of community support officers (PCSOs) also fell, down by 907 (5.5%) to 15,469.
