Scotland Yard is to axe 370 specialist police officers based in schools despite record levels of teenage knife crime.
The Metropolitan Police is to transfer the officers into neighbourhood policing teams rather than having them in schools where they are currently responsible for protecting children from young criminals and preventing them turning to crime.
The move comes amid warnings that thousands of officers nationwide may be cut after this week’s police funding announcement by Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary.
There have been claims that police funding will not cover the costs of Government-sanctioned pay rises, the National Insurance contributions tax raid and inflation.
The Tories have also warned that in order to meet Labour’s target of recruiting 13,000 extra neighbourhood officers, police will have to be moved from other critical frontline areas to deliver on the additional bobbies on the beat.
‘No more safeguarding’
The axing of the Met Police’s safer schools officers was revealed by a police constable who called into LBC Radio to voice his “distress” at the move.
“We were advised that our roles have been abolished or discontinued and we’ll be going back into neighbourhood policing. There’ll be no direct contact with the schools, appointments with the schools, no more safeguarding appointments,” said the officer, who remained anonymous.
The 370 safer schools Met officers represent around a third of these specialist officers spread across all forces in England and Wales. They are based in schools to provide a visible police presence to reassure children, staff and parents and to break down barriers between police and communities.
They work to prevent and detect crime, reduce anti-social behaviour and support young people at risk of becoming victims or offenders.
Knife crime hit a record high of 15,859 in London over the last year up to June, a 16 per cent increase from the previous year, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The anonymous officer said he worked closely with teachers responsible for safeguarding children and pastoral care, providing them with his mobile number so they could call at any time. But he said the Met told him to now block them “so they can’t contact me anymore, which I found a bit distressing”.
He cited how just that morning he had been contacted by a teacher about an incident where a “volatile young man” who was not in school had been harassing a young pupil outside the school gates and had been asked to attend “to make sure nothing happens”. “That’s not going to happen anymore,” he said.
“The point of [safer schools officers] is building a relationship with the school and children that need safeguarding. You meet on a regular basis. You build trust. They see you as a person, a friend, someone they can confide in, not necessarily as a police officer.
“Once that role goes the police officers who come to the schools will be just there for 999 calls, or they won’t be the same officer.”
The Met Police has already warned that it is facing reductions of up to 2,300 officers out of a workforce of 34,000 and an additional cut of 400 civilian staff because of a potential £450 million budget shortfall. Specialist crimefighting units like the Flying Squad face cuts of a fifth.
More than 200 jobs axed
Ten forces have written to Ms Cooper predicting that they will be more than £300 million short in the police funding settlement due to be announced this week. They expressed that cuts could force major reductions to frontline officers, police community support officers (PCSOs) and staff numbers next year.
Chief constables and police and crime commissioners (PCCs) are seeking talks with ministers about the scale of the cuts, with one force alone warning it would have to axe more than 200 police officer posts and half of its PCSOs to balance the books.
The ten forces include Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Suffolk but others have also warned they too face reductions.
A Home Office spokesman said: “The Home Secretary has confirmed that police forces will be fully compensated for the changes to employer National Insurance contributions.”
“The police funding settlement for next year will cover the annual pay award in full and give forces more money to recruit officers and keep our streets safe.”
A Met strategy document said it was committed to improving links with schools and keeping children safe outside school. “We aim to build trust by increasing the breadth of officers and PCSOs to which young people become familiar,” it said.
“A wider range of officers will be trained in working with children, which will become a core function rather than a specialist capability.” This would aim to minimise the risk of violence to children and reassure the public through more visible policing and active partnerships.