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Policing in London

Nor was it a swastika. This a serious point, but a little one. I am not trying to make a big point. I was assured that it was a perfectly respectable tattoo—that is what his wife said, anyway—in a perfectly respectable place. I am just trying to make the point that there should be no artificial barriers to people joining. On borough numbers, Southwark has the third largest number of police after Westminster and Lambeth. Lambeth has an anomalous Commissioner’s discretionary extra number, which Southwark has always been jealous of, because we too have important central London sites, not least City Hall. That agreement has been in place for some years. I repeat the plea—it is non-party political; it comes from the three borough MPs, the GLA member, councillors of both colours and our police commanders—that, until we get 1,000 police, we will not be able to police the borough properly. We have massive numbers of tourists, an increase in businesses and very good regeneration and redevelopment, and we are still up for increasing police numbers in Southwark. I am sure that other boroughs will make the same plea. On estate strategy—buildings and things—no one likes the idea of police stations being closed. Several in my borough are under threat, and the community are not happy about that. I understand the argument for thinking through these issues, but Tower Bridge, Rotherhithe, Camberwell and East Dulwich are all under threat, and I must tell the Minister that we will not persuade the public unless better alternative provision is put in place before the present provision is threatened. A police station that was built 150 years ago might not be in the right place for policing now, but closing police stations without opening alternative provision is not the answer. There have been good initiatives: we have the Blue in Bermondsey, the police shop, which has been useful in its day. I repeat that bureaucracy needs to be reduced, and the best way to do that is through information technology. We are all agreed that this must involve moving speedily towards the police being able to enter a person’s details as they arrest them and to hand over the rest of the process—ideally to civilians. It does not take a police officer to enter all the details on to a computer in a police station or to do all the jobs in and around the custody suite. I know that the Police Federation is unhappy about some of those proposals, but when a volunteer can do something, we should have a volunteer; when a civilian can do it, we should have a civilian. We should keep the police for the key policing tasks. We need to negotiate a satisfactory agreement on two issues. It is never satisfactory for police officers to come in one minute and leave the next, whether they are community officers or borough commanders. The tenure issue is really important: people should be given enough contact—in a way that is compatible with their career—to enable them really to be part of the community, and to stay if they want to. People should be rewarded financially if they stay, as much as if they go somewhere else, if they are doing the policing job well. And, of course, they have to answer the phone when they are called. My hon. Friend made the point that, unless the police are really responsive when people call, people will not believe that they are doing the job properly. It is always a difficult issue, but I support Millwall, not West Ham, and am proud to do so. We nearly got into the play-offs, but not quite. We will be on our way up again soon, and the FA cup final will come round again, and I hope that next time we will win it. At the other end of the spectrum, on my constituency boundary, I have the Ministry of Sound, which was the target of the prospective attack discussed in the Crevice trial the other day. We have never come to a happy accommodation about how to negotiate the extra policing that the private sector needs for its events. There is a certain public duty to make sure that people going to football, rugby or tennis events get looked after. An additional responsibility might have to be borne, however, by the person putting on the event and making money out of it. I am keen that the position should not be as unclear as it is now. Responsible businesses are always willing to pay their contribution, but we must make sure that that is also shared as a public responsibility. Sport, events, clubs, bars and social life are as important a part of London’s success as its commerce. I thank the three police services and, through the Home Office, encourage them to develop their good initiatives. As everybody has said, however, there should be no complacency. There is far too much crime, and not nearly enough detection; we have a long way to go.