Re: Get used to this...

"... the huge levels of police recruitment in the late 1970s means that, over the next five years, as those "Edmund Davies babies" reach 30 years of service and retire, over HALF (53%) of the entire Police Service in England & Wales will be retiring or leaving: why did you think Community Support Officers and Highways Agency Traffic Officers were invented?"

Because they are cheaper and it's easier to use them for political policing.

If a lack of police officers is the problem, then the solution is to hire more police officers. It's not rocket science.

Get used to this...

... the huge levels of police recruitment in the late 1970s means that, over the next five years, as those "Edmund Davies babies" reach 30 years of service and retire, over HALF (53%) of the entire Police Service in England & Wales will be retiring or leaving: why did you think Community Support Officers and Highways Agency Traffic Officers were invented?

And whilst there were indeed record numbers of police officers in the last few years (143,000 at one point), the numbers are now dropping steadily... some believe it could go as low as 80,000 in time for the Olympics (which is why the Metropolitan Police are desperate to recruit so many Specials now... noticed the ads on the Underground?).

So ("Unbelievable"), it is not at all unusual for Specials to drive police vehicles with no regular officer on board....

Wet Fuzz

So now we know what Pegg and Frost can do for a sequel...