Sadiq Khan breaks manifesto pledge as Met cuts police counters
A year later, the mayor of London's commitment is set to be broken, and in dramatic fashion. This week the Metropolitan Police announced 18 counter closures that will leave a dozen of the capital's 32 boroughs without a place to report a crime in person.
Among those to be shuttered will be counters in Tower Hamlets, Kensington and Chelsea, and Richmond, as well as Camden — despite that borough having the second highest crime rate in the capital.
Khan is London's police and crime commissioner and retains overall responsibility for the policing of the capital's streets, and it has been reported he was aware of the Met's decision to shut the counters.
The Met has said that even the busiest counter in the capital, in Charing Cross, averaged fewer than one reported crime an hour and that the move would save the financially stretched force £7 million a year and 3,752 hours of police time.
The Met's budget for this year requires about £260 million of savings. Sir Mark Rowley, the Met commissioner, said that the cuts would force it to 'pick and choose' which crimes they would investigate. Both Rowley and Khan have criticised what they see as underfunding of the Met by central government, and the mayor has directly criticised the money allocated to the force in this summer's spending review.
Kaya Comer-Schwartz, Khan's deputy mayor for policing and crime, said on Thursday: 'Nothing is more important to the mayor and I than keeping Londoners safe and we are determined to continue doing all we can to support Sir Mark Rowley deliver a new Met for London, putting neighbourhood policing at the heart of communities.'
'The proposed changes to police counters are an operational decision for the Met — based on resources, funding and public demand for services.'
She added: 'After over a decade of cuts worth over a billion under the previous government, the Met is facing an extremely difficult financial situation. The mayor and I are working closely with the Met to boost visible neighbourhood policing in our communities and are having ongoing discussions with ministers and the commissioner about the funding the Met needs to ensure we can continue building a safer London for everyone.'
Already only one in 20 muggings in London were solved last year, according to a recent report from the think tank Policy Exchange.
The Times reported at the start of this year that violent robberies and knifepoint thefts of smartphones have risen by nearly 50 per cent since the pandemic.
In 2012 about 12 per cent of crime was reported into station offices, though that has fallen to 5 per cent last year.
A Labour source said there was a lot of anger in party circles 'at the way the Met has mishandled' the announcement of station closures. 'There should have been proper consultation and liaison with local communities,' they added.
The Met's announcement said that the closures, which are badged as 'high-level proposals' will be formalised after 'detailed design work and engagement'. Those picked for closure have been chosen on the basis of front counter demand, accessibility and geographic spread, as well as 'operational alignment to custody suites and investigative teams'.
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