Andrew Dismore

Dear Editor,

So the two Boroughs of Barnet and Camden are to lose 9 Safer Neighbourhood Team sergeants between them, as a first stage precursor to Boris Johnson’s much deeper intended police cuts: the Metropolitan Police Authority has said London will lose 1800 police officers by 2013/4: an average of 50 for every London borough, as a result of Mayor Johnson’s planned axing of police funding of 20%.

I would have liked to know from Conservative London Assembly Member Brian Coleman how many police officers Barnet and  Camden will lose as a result of the Conservative cuts and which Safer Neighbourhood Teams will lose a sergeant. However, I expect he has no idea of the answer, because I have  just received the response to a Freedom of Information request to the Metropolitan Police which has revealed that in the 3 years since he was last elected Conservative Assembly member,  Mr Coleman has not written once to the Met, raising concerns about  Safer Neighbourhood and Safer Transport Police team numbers and deployments.

With cuts of this magnitude underway or in the pipeline, it is appalling that the police have no record of the Assembly member for Barnet and Camden having written with any concerns about the strength of our SNT and STT teams. As for the STTs, when they were first introduced by former Mayor Ken Livingstone, Mr Coleman even dismissed them as a “gimmick”.

Serious and damaging as these cuts are, it will come as a real shock to local people that their Assembly member apparently could not be bothered to put pen to paper or sit in front of his computer to compose even one letter to the Met. to raise objections or concerns about the SNT police cuts, imposed by the Conservative Government and Mayor.

Yours sincerely

Andrew Dismore

Labour London Assembly candidate for Barnet and Camden