Police chief admits staffing level 'is disturbing'

The chief constable of Avon and Somerset Police has admitted the number of officers in the force area, relative to the population, is "disturbing".

Sarah Crew made the comment during an interview with John Darvall on BBC Radio Bristol, during which she also discussed drug driving and deaths on the roads, assaults against officers and institutional racism.

Avon and Somerset Police currently has 187 officers for every 100,000 people, which is 58 officers fewer than the national average.

A Home Office spokesperson said: "Avon and Somerset Police will receive up to £460.5m next year, an increase of up to £20.8m on last year, equal to a 4.7% cash increase."

The spokesperson added: "This is part of our record £18.4bn investment next year, to get more neighbourhood police on the beat, cut crime and catch criminals."

According to the latest data, in 2024 Avon and Somerset Police had 187 officers per 100,000 people, compared to the national policing average of 245 per 100,000 people.

"It's a function historically of the police funding formula that Avon and Somerset Police are underfunded," Crew said.

"If we look at police forces that have a major city as we do, we do even worse."

She added that so far, no government had addressed that but the current administration was looking at police reform.

Crew also addressed drug driving saying police were detecting more offences.

"There was a real societal shift on drink driving, but I don't think we've seen that societal shift on drug driving," she said.

In 2025 there were 711 collisions on roads across Avon and Somerset in which a person was killed or seriously injured, an average of two per day. In 15% of those incidents a driver was found to be under the influence of drink or drugs.

Crew said of every 100 drivers found to be under the influence, 36 tested positive for drugs.

"Drug driving is a real factor," she said.

Crew said the number of assaults on officers had increased.

"I'm seeing 33 incidents a week where officers are assaulted or abused, that's a significant escalation," she said.

Asked about a situation where a mother felt intimidated when officers came to her house asking to speak to her son, Crew said attitudes towards police were changing.

"When officers are going into a situation, they have to be open minded as to how that interaction could go," she said.

The chief constable said all police officers were regularly vetted.

"Each year when they have their career review there will be a conversation about any circumstances that might have changed that would trigger vetting," she explained.

She said any officer who failed to inform the police of changes to their circumstances would trigger new vetting and would be reprimanded if they failed to share details such as a new partner or change of address.

Crew said Avon and Somerset Police was "going through huge change" after she declared the force institutionally racist in 2023.

"In our organisation almost 2,500 of our frontline people [are] receiving training and awareness from Race Matters, not internally, but from people outside."

The force now has an anti-racism strategy, she said, and has reformed the way it uses stop and search powers.

"I can see a time where we're getting better and better and better," she said.