More disappointment over police numbers

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Council voices concerns that figures are unclear

Wandsworth's chief spokesman on law and order has demanded confirmation from London Mayor Ken Livingstone that officers earmarked for new Safer Neighbourhood Teams in Wandsworth will be extra officers for the borough and not existing local ones under a new guise.

Cllr Kathy Tracey, who is Wandsworth's cabinet member for environment and public services, made the call after expressing disappointment that the new safer neighbourhood teams (SNTs) would only have four officers instead of the six previously promised by the Mayor.

Eight wards in Wandsworth currently have SNTs comprising one sergeant, two constables and three community support officers. From April, the 12 remaining wards will get SNTs of one sergeant, one constable and two civilian support officers.

But it remains unclear whether or not the new SNTs will contain officers who have not been previously stationed in Wandsworth, or if the teams will use existing officers drawn from other duties in the borough. Councillors also want assurances that officers attached to a neighbourhood team will work solely in the local area and not be diverted to other parts of London.

Wandsworth is already one of the most under-resourced police divisions in inner London. Since February 1997 it has lost a total of 83 police officers to other parts of the capital.

Last year, a revised formula used by the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) to allocate constables to each London borough showed that Wandsworth should have received 29 extra officers. At the time senior local police chiefs had warned that the borough needed another 50 officers.

But in the end, the MPA decided to place an artificial cap of two per cent on the increase, to avoid transferring officers from other boroughs. This meant that instead of the 29 officers the borough should have received, the actual allocation was just 12.

This brought the number of police officers in Wandsworth up from 567 to 579. In February 1997, figures given to Parliament by the Home Office showed the borough's allocation was 662.

In comparison, Lambeth this year has 947 officers, Lewisham 634, Islington 676, Southwark 856, Camden 807, Tower Hamlets 741 and Hackney 739.

In terms of population, Wandsworth's loss is even more pronounced, with one police officer in the borough for every 473 residents. In Camden the figures is one officer for every 245 residents, in Lambeth it's 280, Islington 260, Southwark 286, Tower Hamlets 264 and Hammersmith & Fulham 319.

Cllr Tracey said: "Local residents are being repeatedly short-changed when it comes to policing. We are already severely under strength when it comes to police numbers and now these new SNTs will contain just four officers rather than the six promised by the Mayor.

"If these are brand new officers that have never been seen in Wandsworth before, we would welcome that, but the indications we are getting is that most of them will be existing officers already serving in this borough who are being repackaged and recycled.

"While we see the need to strengthen community policing at ward level, there is a danger that pulling officers away from other duties in the borough will cause its own problems.This borough has been consistently short changed by both the Mayor and the Home Office in recent years. Wandsworth residents pay their taxes and they deserve the same amount of protection from crime as other Londoners. Sadly they are not getting this."

January 18, 2006