Number of officers quitting Merseyside Police revealed

Almost 500 officers have quit Merseyside Police in the last seven years

78 officers quit the force in the first ten months of 2025.(Image: Liverpool Echo)

The proportion of officers to quit Merseyside Police is 11 per cent lower than the national average, new figures show. Seventy eight officers walked away from Merseyside Police between January and November 2025, 42 per cent of all leavers, compared to those who have retired or have left for other reasons.

The figures, obtained by the ECHO through a Freedom of Information request (FOI), show the rate is below the 53 per cent of police leavers who left after resigning nationally. Almost 500 officers have quit Merseyside Police in the last seven years.

The figures show that more than a third of all 1,403 police leavers have resigned from the force since 2019.

Since 2019, 202 officers quit during their probationary period, which lasts two years for graduates and three years for apprentices.

Of 1,403 officers to leave the force since 2019, 473 resigned.

Twenty nine officers were sacked, and 142 transferred to other police forces. Seventy eight took medical retirement and 8 officers died. Six hundred and forty seven officers retired.

According to Government figures, Merseyside is the second best-served area in the country in terms of number of officers per head of population, with 286 officers per 100,000 people, trailing only the Metropolitan Police, which had 373 officers per 100,000 residents.

Nationally, 8,795 full-time equivalent (FTE) police officers quit forces in England and Wales in the year ending March 2025, a decrease from the previous twelve-month period when 9,080 FTE officers quit.

Of police officers leaving via voluntary resignation in the year ending 31 March 2025, 67 per cent had less than five years’ service.

Forty three per cent of officers to quit Merseyside Police in the past seven years were probationary officers.

Do you have a information, a tip or a story? Contact jon.blackburn@liverpoolecho.co.uk

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