Andrew Dismore

Dear Editor,

As you reported last week, London Mayor Johnson is trumpeting an increase in police numbers, but in fact there is actually a cut over the life of this Coalition Government. The Mayor has chosen the arbitrary date of 2011, when the Met was at a very low number in the middle of a long recruitment freeze under his Mayoralty, as the base for his comparator: it would be hard for the Met not to rise above that particularly low ebb. a fairer comparison would  be from one election to the next.

When Labour left office in May 2010, Barnet had a total of 595 police officers. By 2015, the time of the next election, the number will be just 564- that’s a cut of 34 officers: and it will take till then to build up to that figure, so for most of the next 2 years we will have even fewer than that.

Barnet’s Safer Neighbourhood Teams had, in total, 189 officers, sergeants and PCSOs in May 2010. By 2015, the total will be only 135, that’s a cut of 54 officers.

These are not my figures: they are the official figures from answers to questions I raised at Mayor’s Question Time and from the Mayor’s announcements.

So much for the often repeated pledge during the 2010 General Election of the Conservative MP for Hendon, who promised more police if people voted for him: he has broken his word and we will actually see far fewer officers on the beat than he inherited from Labour.

Moreover, our well respected SNTs will not be earmarked for each ward as they were: the only guarantee is just one dedicated PC and one PCSO- the remainder will be moved around areas as large as a quarter of the borough, losing the local connection that has proved so effective. This new set up is very similar to the pre SNT days of sector policing with just one beat officer per ward, and which had to be replaced by SNTs as it did not work.

The police stations at Barnet and Whetstone are to close their doors to the public completely, meaning there will be no police station open to public access in the east of the borough at all. The suggested replacement – 4 hours per week stalls in supermarkets, coffee shops or post offices – is not in any way a suitable alternative, for those who wish to discuss confidential matters or report crime face to face to a police officer.

I am pleased that our campaign to save Golders Green Police Station from complete closure has been successful so far, but it will only be open for shorter hours, probably just 40 hours per week.

The only station open round the clock will be Colindale in the west of the borough, which is not readily accessible to thousands of people who live in the east of Barnet in particular, but also to many who live in the south too.

Yours Sincerely,

Andrew Dismore AM

London Assembly member for Barnet and Camden