Andrew Dismore

Andrew Dismore, Labour London Assembly member for  Barnet  and Camden has today published figures he has just received in  response to questions to Mayor Johnson (see below).

Mr Dismore said:

“The Mayor   keeps changing the date from which he calculates the figures to try to present his police cuts in the best light he thinks he can get away with. He has manipulated the base figures by taking as the start point the lowest possible date, when the police numbers were at their worst, to suggest there are more, when the opposite is true.

Far from the numbers going up, In 2010, when the Conservative led Government came to power and Labour left office, there were 595 warranted officers in Barnet. Now there are 529. so much for the oft repeated hollow election promise of the Conservative MP for Hendon, of more police.

If the Mayor’s projected target is 564 for 2015, then there will still be significantly fewer police officers at the end of this Government’s term than at the start. The number of sergeants ahs declined dramatically, in particular, meaning officers will have far less supervision.

And he still won’t own up to what the SNT figures will be , two months after the question was asked! However, looking at the SNT numbers from previous answers,  in 2010 there were 63 police officers and 126 PCSOs on SNTs, 189 in total, far more than  the 92 the Mayor was last  claiming were in post and the 135 he predicts for 2015.

And then, only around 20% of officers will be on duty under their new shift pattern, too. And those officers will be spread across the ward clusters.  The named sergeant will be required to be available to work anywhere in the cluster, not just the ward in question.  Local knowledge will inevitably be diluted.

This is why the independent UK Statistics Authority were asked to investigate MOPACs figures.

His own figures show the Mayor has not come clean over his cuts, which are risking the public.”

 

Mayor’s answers:

Barnet Police Numbers 1

Question No: 1483 / 2013

Andrew Dismore

As of 31st March 2013, how many full time sworn police officers were there in Barnet; how many special constables; how many PCSOs; how many sergeants; how many non PCSO civilian staff were there; what were the comparable figures for 1st May 2010, and 31st March 2012; and what do you expects the figures to be on 31st March 2014?

Written response from the Mayor

Full Time sworn police officers, special constables, PCSOs and non-PCSO civilian staff data is available on the London datastore at:

http://data.london.gov.uk/datastorefiles/datafiles/crime-community-safety/mps-figures_Mar13.xls

Below is the sergeant data:

 

At present, there are no confirmed target strengths for 2014, although there is a target to hire an extra 5,000 special constables by 2016. I remain committed to protecting police officer numbers at around 32,000 together with frontline delivery. However, police officer numbers by borough will be affected by a range of factors, including recruitment timescales.  Under the Local Policing Model, Barnet will have 564 police officer posts overall by 2015 with 135 posts in Safer Neighbourhood teams.

Barnet Police Numbers 2

Question No: 2050 / 2013

Andrew Dismore

When will you answer substantively Question No: 1484 / 2013 “As of 31st March 2013, what were the strength of each of the SNTs in Barnet, broken down by officer ranks and types; what were the comparable figures for 1st May 2010, and 31st March 2012; and what he expects the figures to be on 31st March 2014? “

Written response from the Mayor

Officers are drafting a response which will be sent shortly.

Barnet Police Numbers 3

Question No: 2051 / 2013

Andrew Dismore

As of 30th April 2013, what were the strength of each of the SNTs in Barnet, broken down by officer ranks and types; what were the comparable figures for 1st May 2010, and 30th April 2012; and what do you expect the figures to be on 30th April 2014?

Written response from the Mayor

Officers are drafting a response which will be sent shortly.

Barnet Police Numbers 4

Question No: 2052 / 2013

Andrew Dismore

As of 30th April 2013, how many full time sworn police officers were there in Barnet; how many special constables; how many PCSOs; how many sergeants; how many non PCSO civilian staff were there; what were the comparable figures for 1st May 2010, and 30th April 2012; and what do you expects the figures to be on 30th April 2014?”

Written response from the Mayor

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

 

I remain committed to protecting police officer numbers at or around 32,000.  Police officer numbers by borough will be affected by a range of factors, including recruitment timescales.

It is not currently possible to provide figures for target strengths for 2014. However, under the Local Policing Model, Barnet will have 564 police officer posts overall by 2015 with 135 posts in Safer Neighbourhood Teams.