Andrew Dismore

 

In the final version of the Mayor’s crime plan published today , Barnet and Camden both see police stations closed and to be sold off. Barnet will lose Golders Green and Whetstone, and Camden will lose Hampstead and Albany Street, with West Hampstead’s front counter closing too.

There will only be 4 “contact points” replacements in each borough, open for just one hour on Wednesday and Thursday evenings and Saturday afternoons.

Andrew Dismore, Labour London Assembly member for Barnet and Camden said:

“People who rely on Golders Green police station will feel cheated by today’s announcement. While originally canvassed for closure, it was thought to have been saved when it was left off the final consultation closure list. Now it is for the chop after all. This is a slap n the face for many in the Jewish community, who will also be disadvantaged with the contact points opening on Saturday afternoons.

In Camden, while it is welcome that the Met saw sense in agreeing that the 24/7 station should be in Kentish Town after all, as I and many local people proposed, it is a disgrace that Hampstead  is being closed  despite the active local campaign to keep it going. It shows how little influence Conservative candidate and councillor Simon Marcus has on the mayor, despite his protestations to the contrary. no doubt we will now see him advocating the building should be turned into a “free school”, too.

So far as I can see, the contact points are being designed to fail. After all the fuss about whether they should be in coffee shops or post offices, in the end they have ended up in police buildings after all. And so much for the mayor’s promise that no front counter would close unless an equivalent alternative was provided.

The crime plan is also peddling the same spin as before over the alleged increase in police numbers. Comparing May 2010 to 2015, Barnet will see 34 fewer officers and  Camden 133 fewer: neither borough will see an increase. No wonder the mayor has  been asked to justify his claims by the independent  UK Statistics Authority, which he has so far failed to do! And so much for the oft repeated and clearly broken pledge of Hendon’s Conservative MP to increase police numbers in Hendon compared to 2010.

Under the new policing model, only 20% of the local officers will be available at any one time. So this means that only half a dozen or so officers will actually be on duty covering each of the new clusters of 5 or more wards each. Hardly an improvement on the SNTs they are due to replace!”