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Boris: We're paying more for fewer police on streets
Paul Waugh, Deputy Political Editor18 Dec 2007
Boris Johnson launched a fresh attack on Ken Livingstone's record on law and order as he claimed that Londoners were paying more for fewer police on the streets.
The Tory candidate for Mayor said he had unearthed new figures showing that, far from increasing police numbers, Mr Livingstone had overseen a drop in full-time bobbies on the beat.
Mr Johnson said that the Mayor's figures include Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs), but the number of "full-time equivalent" posts for real police officers had gone down by 132 in the last full year, compared with when Sir Ian Blair took over as commissioner in February 2005.
In the past two years, there has been a fall in numbers of professional police officers in 17 different boroughs, Mr Johnson said.
PCSOs have been hailed by Mr Livingstone as the key to his increase in overall police presence but critics say the "plastic police" are ineffective because they have no power of arrest. The Police Federation is also worried by the rise of the PCSOs because they are not as well trained as their professional counterparts.
Among the boroughs worst affected are Barnet, Bexley, Brent, Camden, Westminster, Hackney, Croydon, Ealing and Southwark. Westminster has seen a drop of 56 full-time posts.
It was revealed today that Met officers are spending less time on patrol. An answer to a Parliamentary question-showed that time spent on patrol has dropped and time spent on front line policing has fallen. But frontline policing in England as a whole has risen.
Mr Johnson said: "While our officers do a marvellous job we need to ask ourselves - do we really feel safer? We must look at the management of the police."
Mr Livingstone, who faces Mr Johnson and Lib-Dem Brian Paddick in the mayoral election in May, yesterday pledged to put an extra 1,000 police on the streets over all. He wants a 2.4 per cent rise in his share of Londoners' council tax to pay for the increase.
There are currently 30,996 police officers, 4,012 community support officers and 14,061 civilian staff in the Met.
Reader views (10)
For less than the price of 2 PCSO's you could get a Police Officer with all the powers to deal. What would you rather have - 100 PC's on the streets able to respond or 200 PCSO's with no powers to intervene (and could go on strike if they wanted !)
- Brian Duffy, London, England, 15/12/2007 00:37
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Firstly, the government believes the way forward is PCSO's! Can someone tell me what they actually do? You have fewer police on the streets because it is more important to have non arresting, non confrontational officers who are to be honest a waste of space. I'm more than happy to pay higher taxes if I'm going to get police officers and not second rate wannabes!
Time for the higher powers to see the light and to win the streets back from the robbers and other like criminals.
- Donna, Kenley, 13/12/2007 17:53
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Labour have been in power for over 10yrs and the last time I checked it took less than 12 months to train a copper.
- Mark, London, UK, 13/12/2007 16:45
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Again Boris is hitting the right problems head on! I like very much what he gives us. There are not enough bobbies on the beat and too many silly Communist Supporters Officers!
- Jacqueline, Hampstead, London, 13/12/2007 16:19
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This country is quite deliberately being made to collapse so it can be remodelled into a Brutal Police State backed up by Sharia Law. Its called Social Engineering.
- British Patriot, Luton, 13/12/2007 16:07
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Nick - no the 80 figure is calculated thanks to admissions made in parliament by Labour ministers.
In Wandsworth we also have the equivalent of 2 police officers who spend their entire year filling out the stop and account form. It's a foot long and a pointless piece of New Labour bureaucracy.
Bobbies should be out on the beat and not filling out forms in the station all day.
Good to see that Boris is on the case here.
- Mark Clarke, Tooting, 13/12/2007 15:02
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I'm sick of never seeing real police officers on the streets - they are all PCSO's who are nice and friendly but can't arrest people. Ken thinks he can con us but he can't. The sooner we get him out of office the better.
- Alison Lockyer, Erith, Kent, 13/12/2007 14:33
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Richard ... is that 80 figure arrived at using a Tory-wired, forget-the-cuts-of-Thatcher calculator by any chance?
- Nick, Battersea, London, 13/12/2007 14:12
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More drum beating from Boris. It is noticeable in all his rhetoric that there is no reference to the fact that crime has come down, community relations are better. Oh, no.
The police are complaining about many things at the moment,including the government's pay policy. One thing missing that seems to be on Boris's list is the support given by the Mayor.
It should be noted that Ken was never a drum-beater on law on order, but isn't it funny how the police consider he has tackled crime, including race hate crime.
Londoners would be foolish to think they'd have a safer city under Boris who'd bring back the routemaster, Dixon of Dock Green but doesn't even know as he doesn't use buses that over 80% of buses already have CCTV.
- Ray Sirotkin, London,UK, 13/12/2007 14:08
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Excellent campaigning,Boris. We calculate we are at 80 officers short in Wandsworth.
- Richard Tracey, Wandsworth, UK, 13/12/2007 13:49
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