THERE are just 13 police community support officers left for the entire of Test Valley.

The number, which is supposed to stand at 20, is also currently down to 11 with two officers on maternity leave, and come September, the. number is due to decrease further.

It comes as Home Office figures show that the number of officers in Hampshire Constabulary has dropped over the last year.

The reduction in police officers across England and Wales to the lowest level since 1996 has led the Police Federation to warn that "policing in the UK is on the critical list".

In March, there were the equivalent of 2,835 full-time officers in Hampshire – a drop of 61 on March 2017.

It means that there are now just 143 officers for every 100,000 people in Hampshire – the fourth-lowest rate of England and Wales's police forces.

The figures also show that less time was being spent on frontline policing – 2,499 officers were available for frontline duties in March this year, down 135 from 2017.

Ché Donald of the Police Federation of England and Wales said: "These new figures are proof, as if we even needed it, that policing in the UK is on the critical list.

"Thanks to government funding cuts, we now have the lowest number of police officers since 1996. The figures show we have lost more than 21,300 officers since 2010 – that’s a drop of 15% and the numbers keep going down every year."

The latest figures show an 11% rise in recorded crime across England and Wales, and a 19% increase in violent crimes.

In Hampshire, recorded crime was up by 6%. Violent crime saw a 6% increase.