Freedom of Information requests have revealed the number of young police officers in England and Wales has fallen in the last two years.
Overall, there are nearly 10,000 fewer police officers of all ages than there were in 2009/10.
The number of young police officers in England and Wales has fallen by nearly 50% in two years.
There were 9,088 officers aged under 26 in 2009-10 but only 4,758 in 2011-12, figures obtained by the BBC show.
In Cleveland, North Wales and Staffordshire the fall in the number of officers aged under 26 was more than 70% over the period.