Andrew Dismore

Police numbers in free fall

Andrew Dismore, Labour London Assembly member for Barnet  and Camden has established the latest extent of police cuts in Camden 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.

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. We already know that Hampstead Police Station faces closure, and Mayor Johnson has refused any public consultation on the issue. 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 Camden, 884 officers, 136 sergeants and 120 PCSOs.

As of 31^st July 2012, the numbers had dropped to 777 officers, 121 sergeants and 77 PCSOs. That’s 165 fewer pairs of eyes and ears on the beat in Camden, protecting the public.

 

Question No: 2583 / 2012

Andrew Dismore

As of 31st July, how many full time sworn police officers were there in Camden; 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 Camden for the relevant dates are set out in the table below: