7/29/2019 Karen Buck MPs Response to Consultation on Police
Premises and Policing in London
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Karen Buck MPWestminster North
ConstituencyTel: 020 8968 7999Fax: 020 8960 0150
[email protected]
February 25th
2013
Stephen Greenhalgh
Deputy Mayor (Mayors Office for Policing and crime)
City Hall
The Queens Walk
London SE1
Dear Stephen,
Response to consultation on police premises and policing in
London
Below please find a number of questions and comments relating to
the current consultation of
policing in London, with specific reference to the issue of
police premises and Safer Neighbourhood
Teams. Thank you for your attention.
Police premises
1. The current consultation proposes the closures of Harrow Road
and St Johns Wood policestations. Please could we have an estimate
for the capital receipts and the annual revenuesavings from these
closures (if it this is by necessity only provisional)? Without
some
indication of the costs/savings, it is impossible to have a
sensible discussion about the
alternatives.
2. Can we have some clarity about what the police counter
provision is going to look like?What are the precise purposes of
the initiative in order of importance? So far, these have
been discussed in the context of reporting crime (the MOPAC
consultation), reporting
serious crime (Stephen Greenhalgh at the consultative meeting),
a base for Safer
Neighbourhood Teams and a drop-in policy surgery. These are very
different models of
provision and stakeholder/public response to them as an
alternative to the existing policestations will depend upon exactly
what is being put forward. Furthermore, it is unclear so far
what the minimum standards might be to ensure security, privacy
and so forth.
So- if an alternative were to be a permanent, staffed office for
reporting crime, with a base
for police to work from, open every day, this might be a
feasible alternative. If, however, we
are being asked to accept the closure of 2 stations (and reduced
opening hours at
Paddington Green) with part-time drop-in surgeries as the only
option, this would be
completely unacceptable.
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7/29/2019 Karen Buck MPs Response to Consultation on Police
Premises and Policing in London
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3. How many contact points are being proposed? It is absolutely
essential that the wards inthe north of the borough have proper
access and are given the reassurance of a consistent
police presence. Even though the footfall for reporting crime is
reduced, this is not the only
function of a police station and the reassurance element should
not be under-played.
4. The question of the numbers and purpose of the police contact
points and/or SNT basesrefers back to point 1) and the question of
the budget. How is it possibly to have ameaningful consultation
without having any hard information to go on? I understand that
Westminster Council has now been asked about potential sites for
sharing/rental:
presumably these discussions cant start in the absence of any
financial information? What
other options are being explored and over what timescale?
As one of my constituents has said to me:
I would be perfectly happy with desks in post offices or
supermarkets for reporting minor
issues, getting information or booking appointments, but NOT for
anything requiring
confidentiality. Hate crime CANNOT be reported in a supermarket
together with buyingcornflakes.
5. Can we have an absolute guarantee, consistent with the Mayor
of Londons promise, that nostations will be closed until new
contact points have been established?
Safer Neighbourhood Teams
The ward based model of Safer Neighbourhood policing has worked
well in recent years,
generating a lot of good will and improving reassurance levels,
despite the unwelcomereduction in the number of sergeants last
year. It is vital that your proposals do not further
dilute the local networks and local intelligence which has been
so beneficial. I appreciate
the stated intention is to release additional police into
neighbourhood policing (although
the loss of 200 officers since 2010 has to be factored in) but
without local organisation and
leadership there is a real risk that the gains made since 2005
will be further underlimed.
6. Can we have greater clarity on the issue of SNT presence and
leadership? The consultationto date has stressed that more officers
will be assigned to safer neighbourhood duties: how
will these teams be organised? Will the 2 officers to be
assigned to each ward be ring-fenced
to those specific wards or not? Will ward cluster teams be
ring-fenced? How will any of the
gains which have been made in recent years in building local
connections and intelligence be
preserved?
7. It is essential that we do not get into a situation whereby
either Safer Neighbourhood policework out of a central police
station some considerable distance from the wards they are
meant to be based into, or (possibly even worse) contact points
are a half-hearted
measure, rarely if ever open or used, and adding to public
cynicism. Those of us with longer
memories know that a sub-station was established in Mozart
Street in the early 1990s to
counter the growing problem of drug-dealing and associated
nuisance on the Mozart Estate.
It was never open, and was soon abandoned, and stayed an empty
hulk until (slightly
ironically) a few months ago. Such an error of public policy
must not be repeated.
