Only Lewisham and Charing Cross would remain open 24 hours a day under the revised plans
The Mayor of London and Met Police continued to come under fire for revised plans which would save eight sites it had intended to axe but leave the capital with just two 24/7 front counters.
Last night (Wednesday, October 15) the force announced that it will drop the number of front counters where the public can speak to officers from 37 to 27, instead of an original list of 19. However, just two – Lewisham and Charing Cross – will remain open for 24 hours a day.
The move to close 10 instead of 18 will save the force around £7million, with the Met needing to make overall cuts of £260million to make up a budget shortfall.
Earlier today (Thursday, October 16) Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said the changes were made after consulting extensively with Londoners and looking at the data around how crime is reported.
“If more money fell into our lap from the Chancellor, there’s lots of other things we would spending money on – fighting knife crime, neighbourhood policing – before front counters,” he told the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee.
“The data is clear – they’re not doing a massive amount to keep Londoners safe compared to extra police officers patrolling neighbourhoods fighting crime. Our plans have changed because of what Londoners have told us – they have said it’s more important to have counters open in more places than to have them open 24/7.
“They are a result of us engaging with Londoners in tens of events. We have to work at speed and make the savings this year. There’s a lot of heat around this issue, but no one is proposing a better idea.”
The Met say just five per cent of crimes were reported using front counters last year.
However, critics of the proposals say the counters are not just used to report crime, but are often are place to seek guidance, report missing people or a site of safety for those with nowhere to go or escaping danger.
“It could have been much worse than it is, but there is still disquiet across London,” Police and Crime Committee Chair Marina Ahmed said.
“We know front counters aren’t there just for reporting crime. Your officers told me about a situation where a young woman presented at a front counter at 3am with her children fleeing domestic abuse – there was nowhere else to go.”
“Someone who is looking for a place of refuge – that’s a council responsibility,” Sir Mark responded. “All police stations will have phones outside that go straight to our control room – we can get police officers to them straight away.
“We will still be a 24/7 operational service – but we have big choices to make so we can keep officers on patrol on the streets where they are making the biggest impact on the public.”
Reform Assembly Member Alex Wilson told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “Sir Mark Rowley’s comments today that victims of domestic violence should turn to their local authority if their police front counter is closed were nothing short of an insult – an insult to all Londoners who face the real prospect of being made victims of crime.
“The plans to close ten police station front counters and slash the hours of operation of others are dangerous. The disconnect between the police and the public has never felt wider in many parts of London, and these plans will only to worsen that situation.”
In last year’s manifesto, Sir Sadiq Khan pledged to have at least one 24-hour counter open in each of London’s 32 boroughs that the Met operates in. Last month, he told the London Assembly that he supported the force’s decision, saying that “when the facts change, I change my mind”.
Susan Hall, who leads the Conservative group on the London Assembly, suggested front counters should have been prioritised higher in the Mayor’s budget.
“The Mayor has been in charge for nine years – he spends money frivolously on everything else,” she told the committee. “People just don’t report crime anymore – and it will be even more difficult because of the closed front counters.”
Responding, Deputy Mayor for Police and Crime Kaya Comer-Schwartz said: “In the context of constrained budgets developed over a decade of underfunding the police, there has to be prioritisation and that should be going to neighbourhood policing.
“Access to front counters is a difficult issue and a decision made with constrained finances. It’s not ideal – it’s a tough choice.”
After the meeting, Ms Hall told the LDRS: “This is a disgrace. Londoners – vulnerable Londoners – are losing access to visible policing as a result of Khan and Labour’s disastrous decision to underfund our vital Met Police service.
“We’ve been hearing from the Commissioner about the impact these cuts will have and I am deeply concerned for Londoners who are the victims of crime as a result. He’s broken his promises and let our city down.”
The new plans will see 10 front counters close entirely, while eight on the original chopping block will now operate with reduced hours.
While the announcement prompted relief from some Labour Assembly Members and MPs, the final plans have still drawn ire from the Mayor’s critics.
Liberal Democrat Assembly Member Gareth Roberts said: “Access to policing will effectively shut down after dark across the capital. It is simply unacceptable that the police are rolling all of this out without a proper public consultation or a full Equalities Impact Assessment.
“Front counters are a vital lifeline for more than just reporting crimes – they are places of sanctuary, handling lost and found property, and facilitating urgent contact with officers. This is a cruel cut that will hit the most vulnerable hardest: the elderly, people who are digitally excluded, those who have lost their phones, and victims fleeing abuse and violence who rely on being able to walk in for help.”
Luke Taylor, the MP for Sutton and Cheam and the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for London, added: “This disgraceful Mayor has broken his promise to keep a twenty-four hour front counter in every borough. His shocking carelessness and inability to stand up to his own party has got us here. If he had any integrity he would row this back immediately.
“Police front counters are still, for many people, the first port of call to report a crime that has just happened to them in public. God forbid anyone should experience a crime after ten o’clock at night.
“And for women, who already have been let down by the Met Police and for whom recent revelations have done nothing to instil confidence, taking away one of the simplest ways for them to report assault, harassment or domestic violence is an unacceptable kick in the teeth.”
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