The decision to disband The Royal Parks police team has been blasted as “a very bad” idea and “short-sighted” by campaigners.
Scotland Yard is axing 1,700 police, staff and community support officers amid a £260 million budget shortfall, it was revealed on Wednesday.
London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan confirmed that 80 of them in units protecting eight Royal Parks will be merged into local ward policing - despite fierce opposition from councils and victims.
They enforce wildlife protection, serious crime, regulations and large public events - like Changing of the Guard - in iconic locations such as Hyde Park, St James’s Park, Kensington Gardens, Richmond Park, The Regent’s Park & Primrose Hill and Bushy Park.
Councillor Gareth Roberts, leader of Richmond Council, told the Standard: “It think this is a very bad decision.
“The Royal Parks Police have got immense amounts of knowledge regarding their individual patches. They are responsible for quite high profile policing, such as Changing of the Guard outside Buckingham Palace.
“The idea that you can subsume these particular locations and knowledge into local wards teams makes no sense whatsoever.”
Tony Devenish, a former London Assembly member for the Hyde Park area, added: “This is a typical example of Mr Khan not focusing on the priorities.
“This is not just about residents, but the people who visit London and if they don’t feel safe, it will make the capital less attractive.”
“It’s very regrettable, short-sighted and bizarre,” Mr Devenish said as he planned to raise the decision with shadow home secretary Chris Philp.
An appendix to the budget report states of the Royal Parks axe: “There will be a significant reduction in visible policing within the parks and reduced local / specialist knowledge regarding events and legislation.”
.jpeg)
The Metropolitan Police says it has been forced into “substantial tough choices” despite funding increases from central and local government.
Amid an epidemic of violent crime, mobile phone snatches and shoplifting across London, senior officers warn the “rapidly shrinking Met” must slash services.
Officers placed in schools are also set to be axed.
The Dogs Unit and Mounted Branch are being cut by seven per cent and 25 per cent respectively. MO7 Taskforce, which tackles moped and e-bike robbers alongside gang-related crime, is set to be reduced by 55 per cent.
Cold case investigations looking at crimes committed “many years or decades ago” will be slashed by 11 per cent.
The axe is also falling on one fifth of the anti-robbery Flying Squad and it could lose its firearms capability to save money.
In December, Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said the Met might need to cut 2,300 officers and 400 staff from its 46,000-strong workforce.
But in a desperate attempt to balance the books, reduced opening hours at police front counters could leave only a few accessible 24 hours a day.
While most cuts are likely to go ahead, the force said it had been allocated an extra £32m that may see some of them scaled back.
Sir Sadiq announced a record £1.16 billion City Hall investment in the “chronically underfunded” force, claiming this will save 935 neighbourhood police roles.
He also vowed no cuts will be made to emergency response teams “which the public rely on at times of crisis”.
But Susan Hall, the Tory crime spokeswoman at City Hall, said: “Khan needs to stop faffing around with vanity projects and intervene before Londoners are forced to endure the loss of 1,700 officers.
“The Conservatives had a clear plan to prevent these losses but Labour, Lib Dems, and the Greens voted against it: so now they must walk the walk and find this money before it is too late.
“Londoners cannot afford to lose more police at a time when crime is out of control and today we are standing with the Met Police asking the Mayor to do the right thing.”
