Lib Dem GLA member and local councillor Lynne Featherstone has won assurances on local police numbers following questioning of the Chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA).

She was questioning him over fears that police numbers in Haringey may plummet after March 31st, which is the deadline for meeting the Met’s police numbers target. Ms Featherstone, who also sits on the MPA, was acting on information she had received suggesting that police numbers may then fall once the target had been met as around 40 officers in Haringey were being prevented from proceeding with their applications for jobs in other areas or other police squads until after March 31st.

Those approaching Ms Featherstone feared that having made the target, officers would then be able to move on to new jobs, so that from next April, numbers might start to plummet and the same problem of understaffing in Haringey’s police force would reappear all over again.

After close questioning by Ms Featherstone the MPA’s chair undertook to ensure that numbers would not fall after the target date.

Lynne Featherstone comments:

“Making sure that Haringey gets and then keeps its full compliment of police officers as promised is absolutely vital. I am glad to have a public assurance from the Chair of the MPA that those numbers, once we have them, will not only be maintained, but may be increased. However, I will be watching very closely to see what happens to numbers in Haringey after 31st March.”