Andrew Dismore

Special edition update: November 2012

Policing: Briefing on the cuts; Stations in Barnet & Camden at risk

I am writing to you outside my normal monthly report, because the threats to the local police service are so serious and are only now coming to light. You have probably seen in the local press, various reports about the cuts Mayor Boris Johnson is imposing on the Metropolitan Police, so I thought you might like to hear from me, with the detailed facts. I will firstly set the London wide context, and then deal with the local positions, in each of Barnet and Camden.

The London Wide Picture

Since earlier this year, the London Mayor, Boris Johnson, has assumed the role of Police Commissioner for London through the new Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC), which has replaced the Metropolitan Police Authority. The Mayor now bears sole political responsibility for London’s police service. He has appointed Stephen Greenhalgh as his Deputy Mayor for policing. Mr Greenhalgh was previously the controversial Conservative leader of Hammers mith and Fulham Council.

These new arrangements have raised serious questions about the accountability of the police and MOPAC both to the London Assembly and more importantly, to Londoners generally. I am also concerned with the extent to which front line police officers are being put in the position of having to explain and defend what are essentially political decisions of the Mayor, which is neither appropriate nor their role, in my view. especially when they concern the consequences of the Mayor’s policing cuts. Operational responsibility for the police remains with Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan Howe: the two commissioner titles are a bit confusing!

London has already lost 1,956 police officers, 1,800 PCSOs, and over 1,339 civilian staff since May 2010, when the Conservative and Lib Dem Coalition Government came to power, and things are set to get a lot worse.

At the last London Assembly Budget Committee we heard that as a consequence of his cuts, the Mayor requires the following budget gaps to be addressed by 2016:

• 2013/14          £199 million
• 2014/15          £277.4 million
• 2015/16          £380.8 million

We also heard that the Met does not yet have plans for how it can make these cuts in 2014-2016.

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) recently reported that frontline policing services could only be preserved if budget cuts were limited to a maximum of 12%, but even so the Mayor and Coalition Government have set targets to cut the police budget by 20%. Steve Otter, Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary for the Met., told the Assembly Budget Committee “we think there is a risk to the people of London – there needs to be a longer term plan.”

The Mayor’s revised budget guidance letter dated 19th October 2012 finally accepted for the first time that the Mayor may not be able to keep his election promise that he would keep police officer numbers at 32,320 and would have 1,000 more police officers in London than when he took office. Mayor Johnson wrote “I am willing to consider a range to options… that does not necessarily require a budgeted res ource to finance police officer numbers at 31,957.”

The result of the huge budget cuts the Met are being asked to make will mean a reduction in overall police numbers, the loss of 891 PCSOs from our Safer Neighbourhood Teams, 65 police stations or front counter closures across London,  and the merging of Borough Commanders.

As we saw in August 2011 in those days of rioting across our capital, police resilience is vital – we need the numbers high in times of emergency.

Plans for wholesale closures of police stations to the public are now coming through: see below, for the local impact. It is not just New Scotland Yard and the Peel Centre- the Met Training College in Colindale- that are to be sold off, but local stations too, with just one 24/7 station per borough, often sited in inconvenient locations for the public to reach, as in the case of Barnet and Camden. I challenged the Mayor at Mayor’s Question Time about this (click on image):

When we asked him about the plan to merge Borough Commanders, the Mayor denied such a thing existed. When we showed him the map of the plan to merge Borough Commanders he still denied the plan existed. Now, he at least admits the Met have a plan but he says he remains unconvinced by it and would like to see each Borough with a police ‘lead’. But that’s not the same is it? A lead could be any officer of any rank not necessarily a Chief Superintendent.

Change is also to come through the new “local policing model”. It is far from clear how this will operate, and I have been given different explanations in relation to each of the two Boroughs. It is clear that the SNTs, though, will have additional responsibilities for crime investigation, though the structure is unclear. It is also not clear when this system will come into operation.

Barnet

Police stations closures

I have just been informed by Barnet Police that the Mayor intends:

• to close the front office at Whetstone Police Station and Golders Green Police Station.

• to reduce the service at Barnet Police Station from 15 hours a day 7 days a week to 8 hours 5 days a week.

• to keep Colindale Police Station open 24hrs a day 7 days a week.

In other words, public access is to be withdrawn from Golders Green and Whetstone Police Stations, and Barnet Police Station will see its opening hours dramatically reduced.  The only 24/7 station in the whole of the borough will be Colindale. Whilst this may suit those in the west of Barnet, it is certainly not convenient for those who live in east or north Barnet or parts of Finchley, especially if they are dependent on east/west public transport links.

The stations are to be replaced with “contact points”, where SNT officers will set up stalls for 4 hours per week in various locations. These locations have not yet been identified for Barnet but may include Edgware Hospital, Barnet Hospital, Barnet House, North London Business Park, and Golders Green SN Base.

The police say “One anticipated concern is the closure of the Golders Green front counter service and its impact on the Jewish communities”. To alleviate these concerns they say, “an alter native front counter service will be created at the Golders Green safer neighbourhood patrol base on a Friday and Saturday.” hardly the most convenient days for many Jewish people!

Officer numbers

It looks like the numbers of police locally are in freefall and nor will this be the end of it, as the Met was trying to protect police numbers during  the Olympics, which would include the figures for the last month currently available, set out below . The numbers of both fully warranted Police Officers and PCSOs has dropped dramatically and they are not being replaced. Compared to just before the last General Election in 2010, we now have 205 fewer pairs of eyes and ears on the beat in Barnet.

The fall in civilian employees of the Met also means uniformed officers have to fill roles that were previously carried out by civilian staff in the police stations.

These figures are drawn from replies given by Mayor Johnson to questions I tabled for Mayor’s Question Time.

Safer Neighbourhood Teams

This table is from a reply given by Mayor Johnson to questions I tabled for Mayor’s Question Time.

This table sets out the respective strengths of the ward based SNTs throughout Barnet, comparing the last month’s figures available with the period immediately after the general election of 2010, so you can see just how far numbers have fallen.

For example, Burnt Oak SNT now only has 5 officers in total, instead of the 9 it used to have, this I see as particularly serious, as Burnt Oak got one of the very first SNTs in Barnet, and I campaigned for the team to be increased (as indeed I did for the others in the Borough) to a base strength of 9 in total, to reflect the larger geography and populations of Barnet wards. Anti social crime fell by a third in just a few weeks after the Burnt Oak team were established. Over the last 2 years, as SNT numbers have fallen, there has been a 17% incre ase in total crime in Burnt Oak.  (Figures for other wards are available on the Met website athttp://maps.met.police.uk/)

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

“Local policing model”

It looks like Barnet’s 21 ward based SNTs will be reconfigured into 4 teams, with a weakening of the ward based link, which in my view is an essential feature behind their previous success. They will have extra role in relation to crime investigation, with CID officers attached.

Borough commander

The future of this position is also uncertain. Both I and the Assembly Member for Harrow and Brent (Navin Shah AM) were briefed by our respective Borough commanders, that the role was to be merged between the two boroughs of Barnet and Harrow, with one commander between us. We were shown a map to illustrate this. Although, as indicated above, Mayor Johnson is wriggling about this, the Mets position, as explained at the Assembly Budget Committee, is that this is a deployment of officers and is an operational matter for Police Commissioner Hogan Howe to decide and it is up to him and not the Mayor. This issue is important, as it relates to the local accountability of the police, as well as the police’s ability to operate effectively in partnership with other local agencies including the local Borough Councils and NHS.

Camden

Police stations closures

I have just been informed by Camden Police that the Mayor intends:

• to close the front office at Hampstead, West Hampstead, and Albany Street Police Stations

• to reduce the service at Kentish Town Police Station  to 40 hours per week

• to keep Holborn  Police Station open 24hrs a day 7 days a week.

The stations are to be replaced with up to 7 “contact points”, where SNT officers will set up stalls for 4 hours per week in various locations. The locations that have been suggested include Costa Coffee, Highgate High street; Hampstead Community Centre; the “King’s Cross development”; Camden Town Hall; University College Hospital. “the Departure Lounge”, Camden Town; Finchley Rd SNT base; the O2 Centre; West Hampstead SNT base; and Royal Free Hospital. The problem is that this is being done at such short notice, the owners of the buildings concerned (where not the police) have yet to be asked if they agree!

I have indicated my opposition to these police station closures, which I regard as whol ly unacceptable. The public need to be able to contact the police when they need to, not when the Mayor says the police can deign to be open to them.  I also challenged the Mayor on these cuts at the last Mayor’s Question Time, particularly when I had been assured by the Mayor in answers from  the previous MQT that there were no plans to close these stations.

Officer numbers

As in Barnet, the numbers of officers has been rapidly falling since the last General Election, when the Coalition Government came to power:

(these figures are drawn from replies given by Mayor Johnson to questions I tabled for Mayor’s Question Time..I have yet to receive more up to date figurese to play):

That’s 165 fewer pairs of eyes and ears on the beat in Camden, protecting the public. The position would be even worse, but for the agreement that Labour Camden Council reached with the Met to fund on a joint basis 16 additional police officers especially for Camden Town SNT.  Overall, Camden’s SNTs have fared rather better so far than those in Barnet:

This table is a reply given by Mayor J ohnson to questions I tabled for Mayor’s Question Time.

The table above shows the strength of Sergeants, Constable and PCSOs in the Safer Neighbourhood Teams at August 2010, 2011 and 2012.

However, with the major cuts to come, it remains to be seen how Camden will fare in the post Olympics cuts climate.

“Local policing model”

I have been given assurances by the police that Camden’s ward based SNTs will remain as ward based teams under the new model, unlike in Barnet.

Borough commander

Although Camden was not one of the Boroughs on the map which showed a merged Borough Commander position, the well respected local police chief, Chief Superintendent John Sutherland, was posted to another Borough at very short notice last month, and with no consultation or discussion with the Met’s local partners. His position has been filled on a temporary basis by Superintendent Richard Tucker, acting up as Borou gh Commander. It remains to be seen what permanent arrangements will be made.

I hope you have found this factual briefing of interest and use, and of necessity it is rather longer than my usual reports. Even so, I have not been able to give much information about crime levels, for example, so as not to make the report even longer. A lot of statistical data  at the local level can  be obtained from the Met. website. For Camden and for Barnet. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to let me know, and I will do my best to respond.

Please feel free to pass on this email to any friends or neighbours, or community groups you think may be interested, and if they would like to get my updates direct in future, they should email me at andrew@andrewdismore.org.uk.

Best wishes

Andrew Dismore AM

Labour London Assembly Member for Barnet & Camden