Andrew Dismore

 

I questioned  Mayor Boris Johnson and the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, over the future of the remaining police stations in London, given the further £800 million of cuts demanded by the Conservative Government.

Commissioner Bernard Hogan Howe has said that the coming cuts “Would inevitably mean fewer officers and buildings” The Met.  still have about 400 buildings and 73 of those are operational police front counters. On 21^st May 2015  he told the Assembly Police Committee that the MPS and MOPAC would be looking to reduce the current 400 buildings to the order of 100/200 buildings in their next Estate Strategy. He also said that all he would guarantee would be one 24hr station per borough.

I asked the Mayor:

‘When you became Mayor you pledged that no police stations would be closed on your watch. You then closed 63 police stations. Over the next few years, how many more police stations and front counters do you expect will have to close as a result of Conservative cuts?’

I also said to the Mayor: ‘the Met’s own  review revealed that  their Contact Points are hardly used with just 1.3 visits per week; shouldn’t they  be renamed ‘lack of contact points?  How many officer hours’ time a month, when they could otherwise be out on patrol,   does it cost to keep these going? Apart from  a handful of exceptions, isn’t it time to recognise that this fig leaf to cover up station closures has been a waste of time and resources?’

As usual, the Mayor would not answer straight questions with straight answers. It is  pretty clear, given the Commissioner’s previous  comments, that all Barnet will have left is Colindale;  Camden may manage to keep Kentish Town and Holborn on reduced hours, but it is also likely that the Contact Points will not survive, as they have hardly been used.

‘The Government is going  to cut the Met budget by a third, and this can only mean fewer stations, the end of PCSOs and fewer warranted officers too.

The Conservatives cannot  be trusted with keeping Londoners safe.