Community Policing: why we need a London Mayor

One of the Conservatives who had hoped to be that Party's Mayoral candidate prior to Boris Johnson throwing his hat in to the ring is someone called Lee Rotherham.

Lee is someone who believes that the very institution of the Mayorality should be abolished and powers restored to the borough councils; and in that we disagree. But he has produced a thoughtful, well-argued policy platform; the latest aspect of which covers policing and crime. Lee argues that the Mayor is irrelevant in the fight against crime and again we disagree: we would not have Police Community Support teams (which even he recognises as beneficial) in every single ward in our borough without the Mayor's leadership.

It is inconceivable that had the responsibility been with 32 separate London boroughs we'd have any PCSOs today - in the case of Putney, Roehampton and Southfields alone that's over 30 Officers lost. Fully qualified police are invaluable, but PCSOs not only provide extra Police presence on our streets but also enable 'full' police to focus on more serious crimes.

Lee makes several other good suggestions. Apparently, every arrest produced 3.5 hours of paperwork for the arresting officer. I agree with him that this red tape must be slashed: in itself that would free up resources to put more police on our streets. I also share his view that a day of civic recognition of the contribution (and, occasionally, sacrifice) our Police Officers - and for that matter Fire Fighters and Ambulance crews - make to our city, similar to that of Washington DC, is long overdue. You can read Lee's platform for policing here.