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Front-line fears as 2,000 police go
Martin Bentham and Peter Dominiczak21 Jul 2011
London will lose almost 2,000 police officers as a result of government spending cuts, an official report said today.
Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary issued a stark warning over policing as it revealed the scale of cuts for the first time.
Scotland Yard is expected to lose a total of 3,000 jobs within two years, which will include 1,907 officers as well as special constables and backroom staff.
Protecting front-line policing will be "very challenging" over the next 18 months, inspectors found. The report found that a total of 34,000 jobs would go nationwide.
The Inspectorate also raised fears of an increase in burglaries and robberies as research linked lower police numbers with increases in property crime.
HMIC chief Sir Denis O'Connor said: "Forces will have to transform their efficiency if they are to protect front-line services. The police service must adapt to these changing times in order to deliver the best deal for taxpayers and they will need some support to do this."
HMIC said the six per cent cut in Met officers by 2015 would come because of a £543 million reduction in funding for the force. Critics claimed the cuts would leave the public at greater risk during the 2012 Games.
But Mayor Boris Johnson insisted he would fight to honour his pledge to increase police numbers. A spokesman for the Mayor said: "Mr Johnson has guaranteed there will be morepolice at the end of his mayoral term than at the beginning."
The new research published by the HMIC today claimed that a 10 per cent reduction in force levels could lead to a three per cent increase in crimes such as burglary and robbery.
Property crime is already at a record high in London. Announcing the findings, Sir Denis said the scale of the cuts meant that forces would have to work hard to ensure the public did not suffer from higher crime.
"They have a very, very big job to do to safeguard front-line services for the public," he said.
Home Office minister James Brokenshire insisted that forces could cope, despite the scale of the cuts.
"Every force should be driving through efficiencies, rooting out wasteful spending and cutting crime.
"The effectiveness of a police force depends not on its total numbers, but on how well it uses its resources."
The HMIC report follows a heated political row in London about whether officer numbers are falling or rising.
The Mayor says when he leaves office there will be a total of 32,510, up from when he took office. In between, however, numbers peaked at 33,404.
Labour mayoral candidate Ken Livingstone said: "The Conservative Mayor's cuts will mean some of the most experienced and able officers losing their jobs."
Today's report reveals that the Met had 33,367 officers in March 2010 and predict that this will fall to 31,460 by the same month in 2015. It said the Met will also lose 820 community support officers and 374 backroom staff despite the "unique challenge" of the Olympics.
Community support officer numbers nationally will fall by 1,800 and police staff will be cut by 16,100.
Deputy mayor for policing Kit Malthouse said: "These numbers are entirely speculative and do not include any additional funding or savings that we may be able to find."
Reader views (36)
Send them all down under, screaming out for more coppers over here. We stole a ton of your health care professionals now lets take your highly trained Police to patrol the sunshine state of Queensland. Recruit wages start at around $50000 AUD PA...worth checking out!
- wainscot69, Cairns Australia, 22/07/2011 04:43
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Great news! Less bullying, less harassment, less male teenagers put at risk, fewer quasi soldiers to cause trouble on demonstrations.
Protecting the public? Don't make me laugh.
If you get burgled all that happens is you get a number to report to your insurance company. Nothing else.
If you get assaulted you're quite likely to be treated as if you're the person who committed a crime. Certainly very little will get done about whoever attacked you - unless you're rich or famous.
The few areas where police are useful are -
- a car accident;
- lost children;
- anyone else lost who needs directions.
We don't need many police to cover those.
There do exist some good people in the lower ranks of the police. Not a huge number but they are there. The rest get corrupted by a bad system led from the top.
As far as they are concerned it's us and them - and "us" means everyone is a criminal except them, even if they deal in drugs and commit violence. You can't be a criminal if you're police you see. But WE are criminals even if we're doing nothing except walking along a street.
- Shan Morgain, UK, 22/07/2011 02:06
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Labour mayoral candidate Ken Livingstone said: "The Conservative Mayor's cuts will mean some of the most experienced and able officers losing their jobs."
...so says Red Ken on the campaign trail. He knows this because....? He's suggesting that the wasters will be kept on while the good 'uns will get the boot?
Wadda Maroon!
- Rogan, Irving, 22/07/2011 00:13
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I would urge the Evening STandard to use the freedom of information act to obtain crime figures for each London Borough. You will find out that the Police, though actaully very good at their job are very thin on the ground already and concentrate services dealing with the crimes that scare the public and politicians. Street Robbery, serious youth violence burglary etc gets lots of attention, theft from motor vehicles virtually none, theres simply not enough staff to cover everything. Take a look a the no further action cases from the CPS, and the number of people being bailed for serious offences. Then have a look at the Police staff who are being made redundant. The researchers and analysts who do the nerdy stuff to keep the officers on the street.
You will find most Boroughs are already short staffed and only just coping... Now see what happens when you remove 2000 expirenced full time officers..
- richard, Enfield UK, 21/07/2011 23:05
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Have no fear Mrs Mays hear. (And Boris,Ken,Dave,George) makes you feel safe eh.
- stuart, chesterfield,derbyshire, 21/07/2011 22:19
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To Paddy of Brixton - the NYPD currently has 34.500 officers on its payroll and the starting salary is
£21,454. I put their budget at $4 billion, which is not the same as the Met police budget of £4.1 billion, unless you think one pound Sterling is the equivalent of one American dollar. They (NYPD) can retire after 20 years, but on half pay. Ours get two thirds of their salary after 30 years - but most of them retire early on spurious ‘medical grounds’ which allows an even bigger slice of the cake.
- William Boreham, Kingston Surrey, 21/07/2011 20:35
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Jay, you`re wrong there, its easy to tell a Special alongside a regular officer. The Special will be the one with a pencil-thin neck, face covered in spots and his helmet falling down over his eyes looking for all the world like a boy out for a walk with his dad.
- Barry, Woolwich, 21/07/2011 19:38
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How come , with a bigger population to look after, the New York police can put more policemen on the streets at a cost of around £2.4 billion, compared to our lot costing the taxpayer £4.1 billion?
- William Boreham, Kingston Surrey,
The NYPD employs 33000 officers and had a 2010 budget of $4.35bn. Starting salary of NYPD officer is $33000.(due to rise to around $41000 2011/2012). NYPD officers can retire on an ordinary pension after only 20 years service. The Met police employs 33258 officers with a 2010 budget of £4.1bn. Starting salary for Met officer £23500. Met officers can retire on an ordinary pension only after 30 years service. As you can see there is very little difference between the basic cost of the NYPD and the Met police. However, NYPD officers not only retire much earlier than Met officers, but they can expect to double their yearly salary with overtime, paid to all ranks unlike the Met where overtime is paid only to Constables and Sergeants.
- Paddy, Brixton SW, 21/07/2011 19:36
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This is lazy journalism. Lets clear this up Special Constables are fully warranted Police officers who wear the same uniform as regular police officers if you put a special and regular officer together you could not tell the difference. This article is incorrect in mentioning specials when it should be PCSO's who are the one being let go they wear the flat caps and blue shirts and have no powers.
- Jay, London UK, 21/07/2011 18:59
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Patrol as individuals not in couples, hey presto double the number! says Steve, oh yea, try that in Peckham!!!!
- PC, London, 21/07/2011 18:17
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How come , with a bigger population to look after, the New York police can put more policemen on the streets at a cost of around £2.4 billion, compared to our lot costing the taxpayer £4.1 billion?
- William Boreham, Kingston Surrey, 21/07/2011 18:14
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if they are as competent as the 2 clowns who resigned....what a result !!!!!
- johnny soho, london sw1, 21/07/2011 18:08
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Maybe its because under labour :
a) plods started earning upto £100,000 with overtime included,
b) forces suffer from police retiring in their 40s and early 50s
c) Massive pension payouts including some officers on over £100,000 pa from when they retire in theior 50s.
e) inefficient use of manpower
f) misplaced human rights rules red tape.
g) a lack of respect for the police.
h) the global security threat which means we are hitting the terrorists at home.
i) We're all pretty safe really!
j) Labour gave all our money to the infalted public sector who blew it, the private sector stopped earning so much and now we have a readjustment to make.
It's quite simple really.
- Fulhamite, Fulham, 21/07/2011 17:49
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Just one more reason added to the list of why you shouldn't vote Conservative.
The public have been saying for years we need more and not less police on the streets. What does Mr Cameron do?? Leaves us with less of course!
At a time when the Capital's gun and knife crime culture is spiralling out of control, the Conservatives are helping to make this issue worse.
David Cameron is scared of Public Services because he can't make a profit from them so they must be privatised - everything!
A good example of where privatisation is failing lies on the very form of public transport that most of you use to get to work.
- Ryan, London, 21/07/2011 17:47
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so if London needs to lose 2000 police officers !! How about scraping the Police officers protecting the Houses of Parliment.
and the diplomatic protection Police ..they can provide there own security ... and those officers Can go back protecting the public
- Digger, Hertfordshire, 21/07/2011 17:33
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The reason there is no money to provide for this country's internal AND external security is because Cameron penalises society at home in order to squander it on foreign aid. Pity he did not stay permanently in Africa, it would be better for this country's health!
- J.L.Gammage, Hereford, England, 21/07/2011 17:06
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In one fell swoop, this alleged party of "law and order" has undone years of Police Forces making cases and fighting for every single officer. I remember when forces had to justify to the nth degree a request for say ten extra officers, the Home Office invariably gave them two, many times none at all. In effect, this has taken the Police Force back years, in the past, the home Office has piled extra jobs on Police and reluctantly, when forced, gave them a couple of officers to deal with the extra work involved. Now these officers are being taken away but the extra work remains, only a Tory Prime Minister like Cameron or a Home Secretary like Teresa May would say that these cuts will not affect front line policing. Having reduced our armed forces to a state of being a "joke" they now intend to do likewise with our Police but wait until they take on untrained Chief Officers from Tesco, Marks and Spencers, Asda etc. Never, in my wildest dreams did I ever think that a Tory government could be so irresponsible and so cavalier with the wishes/feelings of the public and never did I expect to see such diabolical policies from a Tory government. To say we have been lied to, conned, insulted and treated like idiots is the understatement of the century. What else can Cameron wreck, unless someone stops him, this country will be like Zimbabwe in a few years time. Then he will ask us to vote for him and his mates again. What a hope, please, never again Cameron.
- M. Clift., Worcester., 21/07/2011 16:46
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Rob Jackson, Many police officers are engaged in what on the face of it appears to be 'administrative' jobs, but often that is because the Home Office job title stipulates that a particular 'administrative' job should be carried out by a 'constable'. The term 'constable' is simply the generic title of any officer up to the rank of Chief Inspector. On the other hand officers who are recovering from long term police related injuries recover far more quickly if they are employed on 'administrative' duties within the service, rather than just sitting around at home waiting to get well enough to return to full time duties. It is a balance that is closely monitored by police personell managers.
- paddy, Brixton SW, 21/07/2011 16:45
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Will anyone notice less police on the beat ? We only see them now if they are investigating something or buying sandwiches, or driving at dangerous speeds in congested areas.
- Michael, Kensington, UK, 21/07/2011 16:30
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Surely some of these losses will be met by officers retiring and additionally how many police officers are doing jobs that civilian police staff can quite competently carry out? so they can be released to do proper policing and not administrative jobs?
- Rob Jackson, london, 21/07/2011 16:18
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Steve, I don't care if it's specials or full-time officers, any presence is better than no presence at all! I admire anyone who stands up and becomes a special. It's a thankless task where red tape outweighs common sense!
Can't believe your idea of increasing patrols are to make them walk around on the own. Talk about not seeing the woods for the trees. Head-in-the-sand thinking like yours is the reason this country is going rapidly down the pan!
- Tony, Essex, 21/07/2011 16:08
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Keep your perma tan on Tony!
"Specials" are a waste of money anyway, with limited powers and in my view ineffective, just a walking high vis jacket. A couple of simple changes will negate the cuts.
1. Patrol as individuals not in couples, hey presto double the number!
2. Sort out those on long term sick - very high I read.
3. Annualised hours will cut excessive overtime and costs.
- Steve, The shire, 21/07/2011 15:00
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couldn't we lose 2,000 MPs and MP-related jobs instead? I truly believe that behind all the dreaded form-filling, the police do a pretty essential job.
- Marianne, SW France/London, 21/07/2011 14:49
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Crime is indeed on the increase: thousands of murders occur each year, but the perpetrators are protected by parliamentary privilege. Theft is up too: but the crooks live in Switzerland and run big banks. Our 'leaders' are responsible for the most spectacular crimes the sad world has ever seen, and one more or less copper on the streets will make not a bit of difference.
- Conspiracy Factualist, London UK, 21/07/2011 14:43
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GOOD!
- Crazy Hippie, Airstrip One, Oceania., 21/07/2011 14:02
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Millions and millions of pounds going over seas to so called developing country's! We are cutting 34,000 jobs! I must be missing something!
- Mark, Walworth Road, 21/07/2011 13:39
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Wonderful,WONDERFUL news.
- A Burgler, Battersea, 21/07/2011 13:25
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Who can honestly say they see to many police on our streets or our roads,its a joke.
- Bazza, London, 21/07/2011 13:23
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No surprise that since The Conservatives got in, crime has started rising again. They really haven't got a clue when it comes to anything but helping out their buddies.
- John, London, 21/07/2011 12:43
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Just a minute Tony, You have missed out on the amount of money that our Micky Mouse Leader has decided to give away to people in far off lands that couldn't care a fig for us and at the rop of a hat would kill us. Him and his kind will have to go and soon. Never mind Greece, Ireland,Portugal. who's next . Boris is well over spent on his brain and just doesn't know what to do next. We should take the animals out of the zoos and put this lot in . Much more fun paying money and watching Cameron and co walking up and down past the wire keeping them in there cages.I would give them less than six months before they become raving lunatics--- What am I saying ,there half way there already.
- Hamilton Straker, Ealing West London, 21/07/2011 12:38
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Once these low numbers are in place, the government will not be asking Police to increase their numbers via recruitment... as long as MPs get their own protection, public get sod all...
- Steve, London, 21/07/2011 12:37
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Boris Johnson said 'I will fight to honour my pledge to increase the number of police officers in London'. blah, blah, blah, blah. Front line services will be protected, blah, blah, blah. We are all in this together, blah, blah blah. Pensioners standards of living will be protected, blah, blah, blah. We will not allow the Bankers to pay themselves huge bonuses for speculating with customers savings, Blah, blah, blah. Glad I am shortly to move from London to the South coast.
- paul, Streatham, 21/07/2011 12:36
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So much then for the so called "Party of Law and Order!!"
Who knows this scheme of News International paying police officers was not just a trial run for Camerons Big Society?
Well Boris is to blaim given the hundreds of millions wasted on vanity projects cuts have to be made somewhere!!
Come back Ken YOUR CITY NEEDS YOU!!
- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex, 21/07/2011 12:30
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@Tony, Essex - don't forget about the billions given away on foreign aid, billions given away to the EU as well as the extra payments to bail out Greece, Eire, Portugal etc; billions spent on fighting wars no one wanted and we can never win, billions wasted on PC driven equality and diversity schemes, courses, on failed IT projects, on benefits to our own home grown layabouts PLUS those from the EU PLUS the rest of the world. The British government is a a byword for waste. Wouldn't it be nice once the phone hacking enquiry is over (another waste of money) maybe Gordon Brown, Blair and the rest can be examined a bit more closely over all the lies they have told to get the UK into it's present state.
- Ranter, Maidstone, UK, 21/07/2011 11:07
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Save money get shot of Blunkets plastic police
- tony, Nowy Sancz poland, 21/07/2011 10:29
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How did Britain become a place where we can throw millions and millions of pounds at a stadium for a three week event and have back breaking bikes scattered all over London that nobody is interested in riding, yet we cannot find the money to have a decent Police force that can protect us and allow us to walk the streets at night?????
Will common sense ever return to our little island?
- Tony, Essex, 21/07/2011 09:56
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