Liberal Democrat GLA candidate for Enfield and Haringey, Wayne Hoban, has highlighted new figures that show the equivalent of 5,874 police officers were removed from front line policing in Haringey in 2003 to undertake other duties.

According to the figures there has been a 42% increase in ‘abstractions’ – the numbers of police taken away from front line policing – for 2002 to 2003. Haringey has one of the highest abstraction rates in London, which equates to an average of 15 policemen a day who were taken away from their duties last year. The figures were taken from Parliamentary answers to Simon Hughes, Liberal Democrat Mayoral candidate, which shows that there were:

* 67,750 police taken away from normal duties in the boroughs to police state visits and counter terrorism
* 69,767 police taken away from normal duties in the boroughs to police public order (including football matches etc)
* 21,692 police taken away from normal duties in the boroughs to police ‘other’ events

Inner-London boroughs faced the biggest removal of officers from normal duties, but even in Kingston where ‘abstractions’ were smallest, almost 2,300 (or an average six a day) were taken away from duties last year.

Wayne Hoban comments:

“When local police are removed from their front line duties, crime will inevitably increase. We saw this in action during the recent visit of George Bush when there was a 20% increase in street robberies across London.”

Lib Dem crime spokesperson, Cllr Lynne Featherstone, adds:

“It is unfair, unreasonable and unnecessary for police officers to be taken away so regularly from their local community in order to police other events which should be the responsibility of other parts of the police service.”