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Emergency
response times fall as police numbers crisis bites
Falling
police numbers mean that the proportion of emergency calls in
Wandsworth being answered within the target time of 12 minutes
has slumped from 83 per cent a year ago to 68 per cent today.
Wandsworth
has lost 100 police officers in the last five years. The new policing
formula adopted by the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) sets
the borough total at just 550 - below the current budgeted target
of 586.
The
Chairman of the Metropolitan Police Authority Lord Harris has
already acknowledged the scale of the problem and has said that
times could be cut by single manning of police response cars.
There are fears that officers would be exposed to safety risks,
and a shortage of vehicles could result from such a policy.
Council
leader Edward Lister said the deterioration in the 999 service
was the latest example of how the London-wide shortage of police
officers was affecting crime victims in Wandsworth:
"The
Home Secretary must be aware that he simply
cannot keep a police force starved of
officers and expect them to go on coping
at the same level they have always done.
We have also heard recently that our local
police are so busy that they no longer
routinely investigate petrol station drive-aways.
"I
am aware of at least two planned raids
recently which could not go ahead as planned.
These were joint operations targeting
long-term graffiti vandals. Both were
put off because of police shortages. These
are all examples of the intolerable pressures
our local police are under. The council
will go on doing everything in its power
to support the police but no one will
be satisfied until we see more police
on our streets."
Falling
number of police in the area
Local
crime reports by ward updated weekly
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