Letter to Ham and High
In the Ham and High (15/9/11), you quote the figures I obtained under the Freedom of Information Act from Scotland Yard describing the fall in police numbers in Camden. The Borough Commander questioned these, saying that the local police were “now back on target”. That may well be so: but this depends on the target! The FoI response ( a copy of which I supplied to the Ham and High) confirms that for August 2011 the target was 801 officers and the actual number was 795, so Chief Superintendent Sutherland is factually correct, in that the shortfall as against the current target was 6 officers ( still 6 too many) . However, the FoI response from Scotland Yard also said, in terms, the actual number of officers as of 1st May 2010 was 887. Compared to the 795 now, that equates to a total loss of 92 full police officers.
Moreover, a subsequent Freedom of Information Act reply has also revealed the cut in funding for Camden police, from the London Mayor and the Coalition Government. Camden Borough police spent £55,068,918 last year. Figures released by the Metropolitan Police reveal their budget for the current year (2011/12) has been reduced to £52,956, 948, a shortfall of £2,111,970.
There is worse to come, too. According to Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary , London is set to lose almost 3,000 uniformed officers by 2015 – 1,907 police officers and 902 PCSOs.
Local people do not want to see cuts in their local police service. That was clear before the riots and is blindingly obvious now. The current Conservative GLA member has not written even once to the Met to raise this issue, either before or after the riots. It’s about time he did, and it’s about time that the Conservative administrations in City Hall and in Whitehall listened to local residents and stopped these damaging cuts now.
Yours sincerely
Andrew Dismore
Labour London Assembly candidate for Barnet and Camden
