Is it time to restore borough policing and pride in our local officers?

Time to restore pride in those who ultimately put their life on the line for us.

In 2017 tri borough policing was installed as way to make heavy financial cutbacks. This was one of the numerous changes the Met Police had to make, that also included the selling of many police stations. Londoners are all too familiar seeing their police stations demolished and replaced by flats, remembering what was once, a much used building to report crime. These days are sadly long gone as now the 101 system is in place. What Londoners are used to, still leaves many other visitors shocked to learn that police stations have had to close, as across the world, even the smallest of village will have a small unit to house law enforcers.

The tri borough policing method was heavily criticised by many including Havering residents who feared that the two other boroughs, in this case Redbridge and Barking and Dagenham, would take precedent over Havering in the need for more policing. Local officers that our communities were used to were also lost. Officers that knew their community, its residents and its needs.

Today, we find ourselves with what little officers we do have, covering large areas, heavy workloads and being used for endless London based protests. We also have the spiralling impacts of knife crime on a daily basis and the heavily criticised stop and search that has clearly demonstrated its use in removing all weapons from our streets.

Despite being told there is a strong ‘Defund the police movement’, most Londoners actually want a police force that is more active and visible on our street. The communities would love to see the return of their ward officers daily and many would like the return of borough policing. Establish individual boroughs as they once were with their officers.

There are as we frequently write, many police officers across our boroughs that do an invaluable job in our community. These officers are according to a recent report, financially worse off that they were five years ago, thinking of leaving the job and struggling with low morale and lack of support. It is without a doubt one of the hardest jobs in our society, probably the most scrutinised job and most criticised. Frontline officers face an endless list of obstacles in doing their daily work that at times is really quite unimaginable. Afterall, there is always someone out there that knows how to do the job so much better than they do.

Given the chance, many boroughs would vote for a return of borough policing and its officers, however lack of funding once again impedes. Now is the time to remove financial constraints from our police forces and allow them better funding. Increase pay conditions for officers, and most importantly, restore pride in our officers who everyday go out there and do such an incredible job on our streets. Instead of repeatedly undermining these officers, actually look at their work load and what they manage to do all in one shift. Time to restore pride in those who ultimately put their life on the line for us.

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