It varies with the force, but as a general trend there are more roads policing officers than in any time in the last 20 years. Add to this the ANPR units most forces now have, and who's remit overlaps into the Roads Policing model, and things are numerically pretty rosy for the bulk of forces.
The problem is manifold;
No one wants to pay more Council Tax to fund more officers.
The very vociferous sector of the population, often prodded along by the tabloid press, regard a lot of road policing activity as petty.
And here's the biggy, ask a random sample of people what they think the top 3 policing priorities should be and you'd be lucky if as many ad 1 in 20 lists anything to do with Roads Policing, and even then it's likely to be speed related matters, even though they almost certainly speed themselves.
Indeed, the highlight of my police career was catching the head of a residents action group against speeding, speeding through his own village himself. I know another bobby that repeated this feat in another village.
My observations? We're not short of Roads Policing officers but they're all off doing other things - the acerage arrest generates 7 hours of admin sovartest someone early in the day abd tou wont see that bobby for the rest of the day. the theres drivers thenselves, most if who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, cos show me a driver who says they've never broken a law on the road and ill show you a liar.
