London's short of police officers - Dee Doocey AM

9.44.00am GMT Mon 27th Oct 2008

Commenting on the news that over half of London's boroughs have missed their recruitment targets for police officers and police community support officers (PCSOs) Dee Doocey, the Liberal Democrats' policing spokesperson, says: "These figures are a worrying revelation and don't bode well for the coming few months in the run up to the Met's budget being finalised.

"While London as a whole is only two officers short of its target there are some individual boroughs which are over 20 officers short."

Dee's comments come after Mayor Johnson responded to a question asked (by her Liberal Democrat colleague Caroline Pidgeon) at Mayor's Question Time and released figures showing exactly how many officers and PCSOs are currently working in each borough, compared to the targets for September 08 and March 09.

Of London's 32 boroughs 18 have missed the target for police officer numbers for September and 27 boroughs missed their PCSO targets.

The worst boroughs for police officers numbers were Westminster, which missed the target by 27 officers, Wandsworth, which is 26 officers short of its target, and Hackney, which is 25 officers short.

Dee says: "These figures show the full extent of the recruitment problems facing the Met and even though the Mayor says he's confident the March 2009 targets will be achieved I doubt very much they'll be achieved borough by borough.

"Coupled with the £76million savings the Met will have to make as a result of the Mayor's proposed budget it's clear recruitment's going to be very difficult in the coming year."

In response to Dee's further questioning Mayor Johnson said he thought it is "highly unlikely" there would be any cuts to front line policing numbers.

Bookmark this story at: del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg FacebookFacebook LibDigLibDig redditreddit StumbleUponStumbleUpon
Print this news story
Comment on this news story
Previous news story: 'Phantom stop leaves bus users stranded' - Caroline Pidgeon AM (Fri 24th Oct 2008).
Next news story: Is two for one on fireworks responsible retailing? - Caroline Pidgeon AM (Fri 31st Oct 2008).

Related News Stories:

Wed 17th Mar 2010:

Thu 18th Feb 2010:

Fri 8th Jan 2010:

Wed 16th Dec 2009:

Wed 11th Nov 2009:

Wed 14th Oct 2009:

Mon 20th Jul 2009:

Thu 20th Mar 2008:

Fri 22nd Feb 2008:

Thu 22nd Nov 2007:

Wed 12th Sep 2007:

Wed 9th May 2007:

Thu 25th Jan 2007:

Wed 18th Oct 2006:

Wed 24th May 2006:

Related Press Articles:

Thu 17th Dec 2009:

Wed 16th Dec 2009:

Fri 11th Sep 2009:

Printed and hosted by Prater Raines Ltd, 98 Sandgate High Street, Folkestone CT20 3BY.
Published and promoted by London Assembly Liberal Democrats, City Hall, The Queen's Walk, London SE1 2AA.
The views expressed are those of the party, not of the service provider.