The number of police officers in Kent has fallen by more than 500 in the last nine years, official figures show.

The drastic decline comes as top officers call for more support from the government amid a growing knife crime crisis, with Kent revealed as having the fastest rise in knife crime in the entire country.

There are 526 less police officers pounding the beat in the county than there was in 2010 when Theresa May became Home Secretary.

On Monday, the Prime Minister denied there is a link between falling police numbers and the growing levels of knife crime.

She agreed to a Treasury demand to cut police budgets by 18% when she took the role of Home Secretary.

The number of officers on our streets has fallen by 13% since then.

Nine years ago in Kent there were 3,787 officers on the beat in the county.

Last year that figure had fallen to 3,261, according to the Police Service Strength report published by the House of Commons Library in October.

However, crime commissioner Matthew Scott pledged in January last year and again at the beginning of this year to recruit more officers.

The current figure for this year is 3,452 officers and next year the predicted number of officers will be 3,632.

Council tax is set to increase by an average £2 a month to help fund the new recruits.

Mr Scott said: "This is not about just replacing those who leave, but increasing officer numbers further to continue the biggest recruitment drive in Kent Police’s history.

"I don’t take decisions to increase your council tax lightly. I always make sure your money is well spent and Kent Police will have to make £10m of efficiency savings next year too.

"More officers will enable Kent Police to catch even more criminals, target gangs and violence, boost visible policing and help more victims.

"My plan means that by next year there will be 450 more police officers in Kent than when I was elected. I'll also have funded over 100 additional police staff posts too."

The fall in numbers were revealed at the same time the Office of National Statistics has revealed Kent has seen the fastest rise in knife crime in the entire country.

The Home Secretary Sajid Javid has met police chiefs from across the country today to discuss the growing number of knife crimes which are killing young people.

John Apter, the chairman of the Police Federation, accused the Prime Minister of having contempt for policing on Sky News.

He said the Government's policies of austerity were all always going to have a consequences.

How much officer numbers have fallen in Kent over the years

In 2011 there were 3,668 officers, then in 2012 the numbers fell again to 3,498.

In 2013, there were 3,323, in 2014, 3,268 in 2015, 3,188 and numbers fell again in 2016 to 3,182.

In 2017 Kent employed 3,259 and last year, there were 3,261 pounding the beat which is just a 0.1% rise in numbers from the year before.