The motion was moved by councillors David Simpson and James Holmes.

The amendment set out at item 24 was moved by councillors Iain Dysart and Mary-Jane Jeanes.

The amendment was lost with 2 voting in favour.

The amendment set out at item 26 was moved by councillors Jeff Hanna and Andrew Judge.

The amendment was put to the vote.

Voting in favour 27

Voting against 24

The amendment was carried.

The amendment set out in item 25 was moved by councillors Richard Hilton and Suzanne Evans.

Voting in favour 2

Voting against 28

Not voting 26

The amendment was lost.

The substantive motion was agreed.

RESOLVED:

This Council welcomes the achievements of our local police together with the Safer Merton partnership team in ensuring that overall crime levels in Merton remain low, although the borough is no longer one of the top three safest in London. Council recognises that there remain significant pockets of high crime in some areas of the borough which can blight the lives of some of our residents. According to the Mayor of London, improved satisfaction rates and falling crime rates, both in Merton and across London, have been achieved by relentlessly focusing resources on front line policing and by cutting bureaucracy and unnecessary targets wherever possible, in line with Government policy, so that Merton’s police officers can concentrate all their efforts on the primary objective of cutting crime.

However, council notes as of Sept 2013, Merton had 20.1 fewer Sergeants, that is, 1.4 fewer Sergeants on SNT duties and 18.7 fewer on other duties, than in March 2010. Merton also had 25.6 fewer PCs, that is, 37.7 more PCs on SNT duties offset by 63.3 fewer PCs on other duties, and 33.9 fewer PCSOs, that is, 24 fewer PCSOs on SNT duties and 9.9 fewer PCSOs on other duties. From a total of 390.8, more than one in five police staff have gone.  Furthermore, the following local police offices in the borough have been shut:

·        Pincott Road in Abbey ward

·        Green Lane in St Helier ward

·        London Road, Mitcham

·        Wilson Avenue in Lavender ward

·        Crown Parade, Morden.

The remaining police “contact points” in the borough are each open for just three hours a week.

This Council recognises that the fear of crime remains a major concern for many of Merton’s residents and notes the comments of the Borough Commander at November’s meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Commission where he said it would be helpful if local businesses were to sponsor an additional police unit in Wimbledon Town Centre. Attracting many visitors as a major transport hub and the centre of Merton’s night time economy, Wimbledon Town Centre is the borough’s crime hotspot and the main centre for drunken disorder in the borough, with Abbey and Trinity wards consistently having the highest percentage of alcohol related call outs to the police and London Ambulance Service. 45% of all thefts from the person last year took place in Wimbledon whilst figures suggest that around a fifth of the total number of crimes in Merton were committed in Abbey, Trinity and Dundonald wards with some 7% of overall crime in the borough taking place within just 200 metres on or around Wimbledon Broadway, which makes it even more regrettable that the police office in Pincott Road has been closed, despite widespread opposition from local residents, including a petition from local people. In terms of overall crime levels Figges Marsh and Cricket Green have the second and third highest rates of crime in the borough and there are particular pockets of crime and anti social behaviour in other areas.

This Council understands that the local authority has an important role to play in helping protect Merton’s residents and businesses against crime and anti-social behaviour, but recognises that local people expect the police, the first line of defence against crime and disorder, to be properly funded by the Mayor of London and notes that:

•         Several councils, such as Hammersmith and Fulham, have entered into arrangements with their local police to fund extra bobbies on the beat.  However the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime wrote to all London Leaders in January to confirm that the cost of this arrangement would be increasing for future years;

•         Section 92 of the Police Act 1996 allows local authorities to make grants for police purposes to the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime which would be used to buy in police inspectors, sergeants and constables on a 2 year contract at a reduced ‘buy one get one free’ rate as part of a cost sharing agreement;

•         Were Merton to enter into such an agreement for 2014-15 as part of the new MetPatrol Plus ‘buy one get one free’ scheme, the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime has confirmed in his letter of 16 January 2014 that the cost to Merton of an extra unit of a sergeant and 6 police constables would be £244,000 in 2014, rising to £271,000 in 2015. 

•         Cllr David Simpson, Conservative Spokesperson for Community Safety, has publicly stated that he has “not got a clue where that money will come from”.

•         This would equate to an additional £271,000 cost to local council taxpayers for a service the Mayor of London has already reduced, and that residents believe he should be providing as it is a service they are paying him to provide as part of their council tax. 

•         The additional cost to Merton would need to be offset by £271,000 of cuts to other services or a rise in Council Tax, or a combination of both.

This Council believes that the Mayor of London has a duty to provide an adequate dedicated safer neighbourhood policing service across the whole borough, including our highest crime areas and asks the Leader of the Council to write to the Mayor of London to:

·        point out the detrimental impact on community safety of the reduction in police officer numbers across the borough;

·        request the re-opening of the local safer neighbourhood police office in Pincott Road, as a means of improving reassurance in the Wimbledon area; and

·        ask the Mayor to ensure there are sufficient resources available for Merton Police in order to reduce levels of crime and anti-social behaviour in the town centre and other areas.