Andrew Dismore

Andrew Dismore, Labour London Assembly member for Barnet  and Camden has established the latest extent of police cuts in Barnet through questions to Mayor Johnson. (answers below)

Mr Dismore said:

“It looks like the numbers of police locally are in freefall and this will not be the end of it, as they were trying to protect police numbers during the Olympics.

The popular traditional Safer Neighbourhood Teams are also going to be a thing of the past too, due to Boris Johnson’s cuts in the police budget.

The numbers of PCSOs has dropped dramatically, they are not being replaced, and when the new “local policing model “ comes into force, the teams will be bigger and not ward based, reducing the benefit of the local knowledge they have built up.

We are also likely to lose police stations too, as the only commitment from Mayor Johnson now is to have just one 24/7 police station per borough. The fall in civilian employees of the Met also means uniformed officers are having to fill roles that were previously carried out by civilian staff in the police stations.

Answers to written questions I put to the Mayor previously and last week show that as of May 2010, when the Conservative led Coalition came to power, there were, in Barnet, 607 warranted officers, 110 sergeants and 171 PCSOs. As of 31^st July 2012, the numbers had dropped to 530 warranted officers, 88 sergeants and 97 PCSOs. That is 173 fewer pairs of eyes and ears on the beat in Barnet.

Burnt Oak SNT now only has 4 officers in total, instead of the 9 it should have.

So much for the oft repeated and clearly broken promise of the Conservative MP for Hendon during the general election, that he would put more police on the beat! He has failed, and has “delivered” the exact opposite.

Question No: 2582 / 2012

Andrew Dismore

As of 31st July, how many full time sworn police officers were there in Barnet; how many special constables; how many PCSOs; how many sergeants; what were the strength of each of the SNTs, broken down by officer ranks and types; what were the comparable figures for 31st July 2011 and 2010; and what he expects the figures to be on 31st July 2013?

Written response from the Mayor

The strengths in Barnet for the relevant dates are set out in the table below:

 

The table below shows the strengths of Sergeants, Constable and PCSOs the Safer Neighbourhood Teams at 31 July 2010, 2011 and 2012.