Residents offer £180k to pay for their own police
HOMEOWNERS have raised £180,000 to pay for beat bobbies to counter “violent and aggressive” criminals after the closure of their local police station.
Residents in Hampstead have offered to pay for a police force
The money, gathered in only four weeks, will pay for dedicated police officers over the next three years.
Residents in Hampstead, northwest London, hope that by offering the Met £60,000 a year for a dedicated ward officer the force will provide another policeman.
Jessica Learmond-Criqui, who chairs the Frognal and Fitzjohns safer neighbourhood panel, hopes to secure a total of £600,000 over three years to fund five PCs and a sergeant for Hampstead.
Student protest in London turns violent
The government cuts mean that the local police station has been closed
They will have no choice as the Government seems undeterred in its rush to close down the police force
She accused the Met of “pillaging” Hampstead’s safer neighbourhood teams after the force cut £600million from its budget and looks to slash a further £800million by 2020.
Ms Learmond-Criqui, a solicitor, said the closure of the area’s only police station last year meant local crime had “taken on a more violent and aggressive quality”.
“We are one of the first communities to propose this type of funding scheme for our area,” she said.
“I have no doubt that when other communities, wealthy or otherwise, understand that they can do the same, they will do so.
“They will have no choice as the Government seems undeterred in its rush to close down the police force.”
The community’s proposal has not won the support of Scotland Yard, despite growing anger from public and police alike about plans to cut the budgets of over-stretched forces.
Residents are concerned that
Six Police and Crime Commissioners and London’s deputy mayor have threatened to sue the Home Office over the “potentially serious implications” of further funding cuts.
The Government is being urged to delay a decision on police force budgets expected in this month’s spending review.
The PCCs told policing minister Mike Penning that funding changes would result in “unfair, unjustified and deeply flawed” cuts.
Bedfordshire’s crime tsar Olly Martins told MPs on the Home Affairs Committee this week that he would welcome sponsorship logos on patrol cars to raise cash.
The community proposal has not won the support of Scotland Yard
And Surrey’s chief constable Lynne Owens, said offences such as petrol theft, vehicle crime and shoplifting were often not investigated because funds were stretched.
Responding to the Hampstead offer, Detective Chief Superintendent Penny Banham said that the area would continue to benefit from a “quality” service.