- Forces in Newham face a 9% vacancy rate;
- Vacancies leave Newham without 19 sergeants and 43 constables;
- High vacancy rates leave ‘a gaping hole at the heart of the Met’;
- Figures show a £13.7m Met underspend on police officer pay, suggesting that that vacancies have been sitting open as part of a cost saving exercise.
New figures obtained by Labour London Assembly Member Joanne McCartney show that in May this year (the latest period available) there were 1,209 vacancies for police sergeants and constables across the capital’s borough forces.
The high vacancy rates come on top of significant cuts in police numbers since the Government came to power, with official figures showing 134 police officers and PCSOs cut from Tower Hamlets’ streets between May 2010 and May 2014, and 4,694 from London’s streets overall. A report last year also found that the Met’s proportion of officers deemed ‘visible’ was the third lowest in England and Wales.
Newham is one of 14 London boroughs with vacancy rates of 6% or over, with five facing double digit deficits. Harrow is shown to have the highest percentage of vacancies, with 15% of its sergeant and constable posts unfilled. Waltham Forest had the highest overall number, with 72 vacancies from a force of 664.
The figures were revealed after HMIC warned that “forces across England and Wales plan to achieve most of their savings by reducing the number of police officers, PCSOs and police staff… most of the savings [of the MPS] come from reducing the size of the workforce.”
Labour London Assembly for City & East London, John Biggs said:
“In his manifesto Boris Johnson pledged to put more officers on the beat. In reality what we have seen is 134 police officers and PCSOs cut from Newham’s streets since this Government came to power. Now we learn that on top of that 6% of ‘sergeants and constables are missing due to unfilled vacancies, that’s 53 extra officers who should be on our streets. It is an absolute scandal that police numbers have been allowed to fall this low, these vacancies are leaving a gaping hole at the heart of our local police force.
“Whilst a small churn in the number of officers is to be expected, these are deeply concerning figures. With so many positions unfilled we need to ask not only what impact that has on policing, but why the Mayor of London Boris Johnson has allowed it to happen in the first place. Either the depth of officer morale is so low they are haemorrhaging officers, or these posts are being kept open to keep costs down. Either way the Mayor should take immediate action to ensure our police force is up to strength and vacancies are filled as quickly as possible.”