Statistics show the number of arrests being made by British police has collapsed — while forces focus increasingly on so-called "hate crime" and "malicious communications".

New Home Office figures reveal that arrests have plunged 12 per cent over the last year, and by a remarkable 48 per cent over the past nine years, MailOnline reports.

Police arrested some 1.5 million people in the year ending March 2008, but just 779,660 in the year ending March 2017 — despite huge increases in recorded crime.

Total crime has risen by 19 per cent in the year to June 2017, with violent crime up 19 per cent, rape up 22 per cent, knife crime up 26 per cent, and gun crime — despite draconian controls on legal gun ownership — up by an astonishing 27 per cent.

Acquisitive crimes (e.g., shoplifting, burglary, robbery, and theft) are also on the increase — and a suspect is only identified in one burglary out of 10.

England Policing Crisis: Crime up 13 Per Cent, Rape up 22 Per Cent, Just One in Nine Burglaries Solved https://t.co/cnhoCUa2Yz — Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) October 19, 2017

Police lay the blame for the sharp drop in arrests on swingeing budget cuts, which have seen police numbers reduced by 20,000 constables to their lowest level since 1985.

There is strong anecdotal evidence that these cuts have indeed hollowed out community policing to a certain extent, with veteran officers arguing that they have left forces blind in areas where radical Islam is thriving and reduced the flow of local intelligence to the security services.

The Tories, who have been making cuts first in conjunction with the Liberal Democrats and then on their own after the end of the 2010-15 coalition, argue they are necessary to reduce the deficit bequeathed to them by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown — but they have been made at a time when the foreign aid budget and financial contributions to the European Union have been increasing year on year.

What Free Speech? British Police Arrest At Least 3,395 People for 'Offensive' Online Comments in One Year https://t.co/6sB2P99162 — Jack Montgomery ن (@JackBMontgomery) October 14, 2017

There are also suggestions that British police forces are not deploying their reduced resources wisely, however.

For example, arrests for supposedly offensive comments online were in the thousands in 2016; up by 53 per cent in London — now more dangerous than New York City, where police numbers are roughly comparable to London — and by an extraordinary 877 per cent in the West Midlands.

The Metropolitan Police have even suggested they will not even bother investigating many so-called "low-level" crimes such as shoplifting and vandalism anymore as it is "not practical" in a time of cutbacks — while boasting of having more than 900 specialist officers dedicated to "hate crime" investigations.

We have 900+ specialist officers across London dedicated to investigating all hate crime. For more info visit https://t.co/VNyHq5vu5T #NHCAW pic.twitter.com/pp4XzyU5We — Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) October 19, 2017

Police forces have also been an embarrassed by a series of bizarre stunts, calling on people to report "non-crime hate incidents" on Twitter and having male constables wear red high heels to raise awareness of domestic violence or paint their nails to raise awareness of modern slavery.

Many have compounded the poor publicity generated by the news surrounding these events by taking umbrage at the negative reception they have received online and threatening to track down social media users who have directed critical remarks at them.

Follow Jack Montgomery on Twitter: @JackBMontgomery