COMMUNITY POLICING AT RISK AS THREE IN FOUR OF LONDON'S POLICE LIVE OUTSIDE THE CAPITAL

12.01.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 29th Mar 2005

Liberal Democrats at the London Assembly today voiced 'serious concerns' over the ways communities can be policed effectively as they revealed new figures which show that three out of four police officers live outside London.

The figures, revealed in Mayoral answers to the Liberal Democrats, show that 75% of police officers and just under half of all Police and Community Support Officers (PCSOs) live outside Greater London. This means that 23,093 of the 30,790 police, and 972 of the 1,945 PCSOs working in London, commute from outside the capital.

London Assembly Liberal Democrat Policing Spokesperson, Graham Tope, said:-

"Effective local policing is best done by officers who know and understand the local community, the area and its problems. With the majority of Met officers living outside London, there is a real danger that our police fail to understand the communities they are policing and this is a particular worry for a city as diverse as London.

"These shocking figures can't just be blamed on expensive housing. It is not surprising that the police have failed to convince Londoners to become new recruits given the public's low levels of satisfaction in local policing, and continuing allegations of racial discrimination and chauvinism.

"The Met must now get its house in order and strive to recruit more Londoners if they want to be effective in the policing of our streets, and enjoy the public's confidence in doing so."

ENDS

Notes to editor

· The answer to the Graham Tope London Assembly question can be found below and was published on the 1st March 2005

Place of residence of MPS officers and PCSOs

Question No: 625 / 2005

Graham Tope

How many and what proportion of MPS (a) police officers and (b) PCSOs currently live outside Greater London?

Currently, just over 75% of police officers have addresses registered outside the Greater London District. For PCSOs, just under 50% live outside Greater London.

· Latest stats (as at end Jan 2005) show total no of officers as 30790 and PCSOs 1945