Tory London Mayoral candidate calls for all police leave to be cancelled
Tory Mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey has today called for all police leave to be cancelled in London after four murders in recent days.
The appeal has gone down like a bucket of cold sick among many police officers who have regularly seen leave cancelled as rising crime comes up against three thousands fewer offers since 2010.
The population in London has also risen by around a million since then. The number of police officers in London has fallen by almost 25% with 4.1 per thousand Londoners in 2010 reducing to 3.3 per thousand this year.
These murders could have been avoided.
We must stand up for our communities by taking immediate action to ensure their safety is the top priority.
City Hall must cancel all police leave and implement a police surge to take back control of our streets. https://t.co/dyV5wqvNvv
— Shaun Bailey (@ShaunBaileyUK) June 17, 2019
Morale is reported to be low in the Met with many experienced officers leaving. Cancelling even more leave days (with the impact on family life) could be the straw that breaks the camels back.
If this is Shaun Bailey’s big idea on policing it appears he won’t win over rank and file officers.
Since 2010 police numbers in London have fallen from 33,000 to less than 30,000 as the force has seen cuts totaling £1 billion from central Government.
Around 75% of police funding comes from central Government. Last year they announced additional funding for the Met but forced the Mayor to raise funds to do so via a 9 per cent increase on the council tax precept. Even with that rise, numbers are not expected to increase anywhere near to 2010 levels even with the population rising by 100k a year.
What a dumb idea for easy headlines. It may have an impact for a couple of weeks but long term will make things so much worse as officers head to the exit (or move to other counties outside London).