Is The Budget shortfall Going To Break The Met’s Already Very Thin Blue Line? It is time somebody listens to our officers once and for all.

Fund this service properly. Improve officer morale, give them the resources they so desperately need and do not keep promising the box of police officers that is expected to pop up and save the day when needed.

Across London today, there are thousands of officers already struggling to cover large areas with a team of very stretched and very few staff. Communities complain that they don’t see police officers and crime is rising in their local area. Somewhere in an office, is a police sergeant trying to achieve the impossible by assigning the very limited number of officers he has, to a large area with an ever expanding community.

Last week the headlines were of officers being allocated for each community, neighbourhood officers returning, and basically rehashing an idea that has already been rehashed out every year with a new spin. Yet, officers on the street looked at each other and wondered just how this is going to be possible when the everyday game of chess trying to allocate officers to different areas when needed, is the reality.

There are nearly 9 million people in London now and we have just over 33 thousand officers across the capital. That does not make a good ratio. Without adding the crucial factors that many are daily removed from our communities for a multitude of reasons such as London protests, internal investigations that can go on for years, sickness, especially mental health issues that are rapidly rising due to the overwhelming pressures these officers face.

Now the Met face a budget shortfall of a whopping £450 million. It also says it may have to axe 2,300 officer posts as a result. This thin blue line is not only stretched to the limit, but now about to break in half.

There are nearly 9 million people in London alone., let that sink in.

In 2023/24 The Met and City of London Police recorded 252,545 violent incidents, an increase from the year before.

In 2023/24 there were 15,016 knife incidents recorded in London. A jump from 12,786 the year before.

In 2023/24 there were 56,263 burglaries recorded in London, working out to 103 a day, or even worse, a shockingly enough one every 14 minutes.

Let’s also take into account that every weekend in London there are numerous protests that need to be policed and take vast amounts of resources away from each borough.

There are days when some neighbourhoods have no officers whatsoever, none. Yet now we are facing the loss of even more officers.

It is pointless pointing the finger at the Met. These officers unbeknown to the public are doing extraordinary achievements every single day to the best of their ability to keep London as safe as they can.

Protests cost not only officer time, but endless monetary pressures that this police force does not need.

It is not sustainable to go on this way. The Met is a bus running with two flat tyres and more and more passengers are getting on, without anyone supporting the bus.

It really is time we support our police force and its officers, the majority of whom do a truly outstanding job across the capital.

Fund this service properly. Improve officer morale, give them the resources they so desperately need and do not keep promising the box of police officers that is expected to pop up and save the day when needed.

Please remember that police officers are not entitled to go on strike like everyone else can across the capital. It is worth noting what would happen if they did?

Support these officers who everyday go out to work and risk their lives for us. It is time somebody listens to them and their concerns.

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