Andrew Dismore

Andrew Dismore, London Assembly member for Barnet and Camden has just published startling official figures which reveal  the  number of police officers taken off  their usual  duties in Camden  for  duties elsewhere. (see Mayor’s answers below)

Over the 6 months to 10th September 2014, officers were abstracted from their regular duties on as many as 123 occasions, for  a total of  no fewer than 2,629 officer shifts.

Mr Dismore said:

‘This means that on average Camden has lost no fewer than  101 officer shifts per month or 25 officers missing at least one shift per week from  their normal work.

‘Compared to May 2010 when there were 887 police officers in Camden, we now have just 680 – 227 fewer. PCSOs are down from 123 to 42. And only about 20% of officers are on duty at any one time.  And with so many  of those ‘abstracted’ – sent off out of the Borough or on other duties- the position  is even worse than these low officer number figures suggest .

‘The Conservative Mayor replaced our Safer Neighbourhood Teams with his ‘New Policing Model’. This isn’t working, as the Police Commissioner has now admitted. Instead of being visible on the beat, the eyes and ears of the Met, providing reassurance and deterrence, officers are back in cars, running around to meet demanding schedules, trying to plug the gaps.

‘With so few officers on the beat, no wonder residents are always complaining to me that they don’t see officers on the streets any more and it is not surprising that crimes like vehicle  crime and violent offences are up.’

Mayor’s answers:

 

Camden: officer extractions 1

Question No: 2014/3323

Andrew Dismore

In Camden for the last  6 months, on how many occasions have officers been extracted from the borough to support other policing operations elsewhere?

Written response from the Mayor

From 10th March to 10th September 2014, officers were abstracted on 123 occasions.

 

These abstractions relate to policing activity outside of their designated Neighbourhood Policing Team area, often referred to as ‘Aid’. Aid accounts for both local (in-borough) and central abstraction. Local abstractions are confined to the borough the officer works in and typically include local activities such as sporting events, cultural events and borough based policing operations.

 

Central abstractions are ‘off borough’ and typically include activities such as large scale demonstrations, Notting Hill Carnival, New Year’s Eve and one-off events such as the Tour de France.

 

Camden: officer extractions 2

Question No: 2014/3324

Andrew Dismore

In Camden for the last  6 months, for how many officer shifts   in total have officers been extracted from the borough to support other policing operations elsewhere?

Written response from the Mayor

From the 10th March to 10th September 2014 a total of 2629 officer shifts were abstracted

 

These abstractions relate to policing activity outside of their designated Neighbourhood Policing Team area, often referred to as ‘Aid’. Aid accounts for both local (in-borough) and central abstraction. Local abstractions are confined to the borough the officer works in and typically include local activities such as sporting events, cultural events and borough based policing operations.

 

Central abstractions are ‘off borough’ and typically include activities such as large scale demonstrations, Notting Hill Carnival, New Year’s Eve and one-off events such as the Tour de France.

 

Ends