Police experience lost due to Tory austerity will take years to replace, a senior Labour MP has warned - after a watchdog chief said it is impacting investigations.
By next year it is estimated that 38% of officers in England and Wales will have less than five years' experience - more than three times higher than a decade earlier.
Dame Diana Johnson, who chairs Parliament's Home Affairs committee, said that while the government has "finally" taken action to recruit new officers, she has concerns about how forces will handle a huge influx of staff.
It comes after the Chief Inspector of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue, Andy Cooke, last week told MPs that there are "significant issues" around police "tradecraft, experience and professionalism".
Just 5.5% of reported crimes result in a suspect being charged, latest Home Office figures show, down from 14% in 2015.
Dame Diana told The Mirror: “From 2010 police numbers fell by over 20,000. The Government has finally taken action to reverse this trend and restore the number of officers to what it was a decade ago.
"It will take far longer to replace the years of experience that has been lost."
The government claims it is on target to meet its election promise of recruiting 20,000 new officers by the end of next month - but latest figures show it would need to bring on over 1.110 a month - raising issues about vetting.
Dame Diana said: "Given the serious concerns about the long-term ability of police forces to ensure officers meet the standards of professionalism expected of them, we must also question how able it is to handle such a high influx of new staff."
Referencing the cases of rapist copper David Carrick and evil killer Wayne Couzens, she said it would be a "mistake" to solely focus on new recruits, saying: "Many of the officers being found guilty of serious criminality, and that continue to damage public confidence in the service, have had long careers in the police."
Mr Cooke, a former Chief Constable of Merseyside Police, told cross-party MPs last week: "What can't be denied is that irrespective of what the offence is, that charge rate is too low."
The Commissioner continued that there are "numerous issues", stating: "One is a shortage of detectives, secondly there's a very inexperienced workforce and inexperienced supervision."
He continued: "The experience isn't as it was 10 years ago. There are significant issues around policing tradecraft, experience and professionalism."
"Policing is at a very difficult time, some would say crisis in relation to its ability to ensure that the public is kept as safe as we'd like them to be."
Asked why police forces are struggling with experience, Mr Cooke responded: "The 2010 austerity and the significant reduction in offer numbers."
A House of Commons Library research paper published last month states that in 2010 there were 172,000 police officers across the UK, including Scotland and Northern Ireland.
This steadily dipped over the next decade, reaching 150,000 in 2017 before slowly starting to rise. By last year there were 164,000.
The commissioner continued: "Now trying to get back to these police officer numbers is an issue.
"I'd add on top of that that police officers in real terms have basically had a 20% pay cut in 2010 compared to what they earn now.
"So policing isn't a vastly attractive proposition, particularly in areas where there's a high cost of living."
Dame Diana said that this needs to be addressed.
She said: "We will only get the quality of officers we need if they see it as a viable, long-term career, where they can learn and develop.
"Remuneration is an important part of this, but the wider culture must also change if we are to have a high-quality force that sustains the confidence of the communities it serves."
An inquiry into the future of policing, focusing on how forces can adapt, has been launched.
