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New figures reveal 2,900 Met Police Officers cut since 2010
The Metropolitan Police’s latest figures reveal that over 2,900 police officers have been cut since May 2010. Since his re-election last May Boris Johnson has cut over 1,300 police officers – despite promising an extra 1,000. The latest drop in police numbers comes at a time when the Mayor and government are considering buying water cannons for the police.
The majority of police officers that have been cut have come from borough police teams:
- In Brent 89 police officers have been lost
- In Harrow 66 police officers have been lost
These latest figures are deeply concerning. Not only have we lost 89 police officers in Brent, 66 in Harrow and nearly 3,000 police officers in London since May 2010, but the vast majority – 2,700 – have been lost from borough police teams. Hollowing out the frontline like this cannot continue. This week we learned that the government and Mayor are considering buying water cannons to use on our streets. It looks like the Met are under real strain, without enough police officers.
Instead of cutting the police budget by 20 per cent and buying water cannons the government and Mayor should be properly resourcing the police. These cuts are completely unacceptable. Boris’ latest policing plan claims that it will put more police into the boroughs and on the streets, the evidence tells a very different story. The Mayor and the Government’s cuts are too far, too fast.
Ends
Notes
- In September 2012 Boris Johnson said at Mayor’s Question Time: “I do think that it is important to keep Police numbers high…It is something that not everybody necessarily agrees with me about. A lot of people say that the numbers themselves do not matter. I think that they do matter. I think that it is important that we keep them at or around 32,000.”
Navin Shah AM calls on Mayor to reverse police cuts in face of rising crime
Recent figures show the affect police cuts are having on crime in Brent and Harrow. I, along with my Labour Group colleagues, have called on the Mayor to reverse his police cuts as it was revealed that Brent has lost 38 officers in the last two years and Harrow has lost 40.
The vacancy level in Brent's Police is 64 per cent and and 46.15 per cent in Harrow. In March 2010 there were 703 officers based in Brent. By December last year the number had fallen to 665 officers in Brent. The Harrow figures show a drop from 403 officers in March 2010 to 363 in December last last year.
Across London the Mayor has cut 1,700 police officers in the last two years.
The most recent Metropolitan Police crime figures, released two weeks ago, revealed that total crime rose by 6.3% in Brent in the last year.
These figures reveal the full extent of Boris Johnson’s police cuts. Rather than embracing the government’s cuts to the police we need a Mayor who will make sure we have enough police on our streets.
The loss of officers is completely unacceptable. As personal robbery, burglary and drug-related crimes are rising in our borough we need more police on our streets, not less. That’s why I’m calling on the Mayor to protect the police to help keep our streets safe for all of us.
While overall crime in London is down 1 per cent in the last year, certain types of violent crime including burglary, robbery and muggings have risen significantly:
BRENT
Wounding/GBH up 7%
Total sexual up 20.6%
Robbery personal up 14.7%
Burglary dwelling up 10.9%
Total drugs up 33.8%
Total Crime 6.2%
HARROW
Robbery personal up 40.8%
Burglary dwelling up 14.1%
Theft of pedal cycles up 23.8%
Navin Shah AM
‘TOTAL POLICING’ says New Met Commissioner
The Met Police Commissioner of London, Bernard Hogan Howe, visited Harrow early this month to talk about his ‘Total Policing’ concept to the residents of Harrow, Brent and Barnet. Addressing the gathering of the three Boroughs he explained his ambition of making London’s police the best service in the country and the world. However, he revealed a disturbing rise in crime and burglary figures (noted below) in the boroughs of Brent, Harrow and Barnet.
Compared to the 2010/11 figures:
- In Brent personal robbery has increased by 14%, residential burglaries have gone up by 15% and there is decrease of 31% in detection rate. Over the same period there were 19,600 cases of stop and search with 7% arrest rate as compared to 4,200 cases of stop and search incidents in Harrow.
- In Harrow personal robbery has increased by 63%, residential burglaries have gone up by 15% and there is decrease of 31% in detection rate. Over the same period there were 4200 cases of stop and search with 7% arrest rate with dramatic increase in sickness level in PCSOs and overall increase in the level of police sickness.
Attending this meeting, in my constituency of Brent and Harrow, which was a very welcome initiative from the new Met Commissioner I took the opportunity to quiz him on one the most important issues about reduced police numbers in both Brent and Harrow. With the crime and burglary numbers rising I have grave concerns about depleted safer neighbourhood teams with reduced number of sergeants and the ability of Brent and Harrow to remain safe.
I also pointed out to the Commissioner residents' concerns during the London Olympics when a large number of local police would be deployed in London. In his reply to the reduced police numbers the Commissioner said he was reasonably confident that the resources were broadly right for now and he told the audience to expect a ‘significant announcement in April’. On the matter of police cover in Brent and Harrow during the Olympics he accepted that there would be smaller police numbers in outer London Boroughs but he’d be able to manage as there’d be help from ‘mutual aid’ deployment of police forces from other parts of the country.
I have no doubt that the Commissioner is ambitious and serious about his plans to improve London’s policing. But I’m concerned that we are witnessing a trend of increased crime and burglary rates as confirmed by the Commissioner and the decreasing police numbers including loss of half of sergeants would hamper our Safer Neighbourhood Teams from keeping our localities safe and put at risk our success in combating crime. I wonder whether the Commissioner’s reference to ‘significant announcement in April’ is about a short term fix before the Mayoral elections. Reduced level of police during the London Olympics in Outer London areas like Harrow and Brent remains a big cause of concern to me.
Navin Shah AM
Published by NeonHorizon. Promoted by Keith Ferry on behalf of Navin Shah, both at 20 Byron Road, Harrow, HA3 7ST