Caroline Pidgeon has highlighted her concern at the ongoing shortage of Police Community Support Officers in London.
New data revealed by the Liberal Democrats has shown that London is still short of 416 PCSOs: a shortfall of 35% of the Met's target. In fact, the data shows that the Met has lost 36 officers since July.
Caroline said:
“PCSOs play a vital role in keeping our communities safe. It is extremely worrying to see that despite a new recruitment drive by the Met, the number of PCSOs has actually fallen from last summer rather than increased.
“Over the last five years, Londoners have suffered as the Conservative Government has enacted savage cuts which have left the police starved of the resources they need to keep people safe.
“Meanwhile Sadiq Khan had to hand back the Government £31 million in funding for the Met after failing to meet Police Officer recruitment targets.
“The target of hiring an extra 500 officers by the end of 2023 is now in tatters. What we need to see is for both the Conservatives and Labour to stop using community safety as a political football, and to work collaboratively to implement solutions and rebuild public trust in a police service that is an all-time low.”