Transcript of this meeting [PDF]

going to be extremely important. This is in the context of local consultation and localchanges, so I think understanding the parameters would be helpful.First of all, we are well into the budget process. Obviously you have done a lot ofprojections as to how this looks. Are you able to tell us what the number of officers andPCSOs engaged in Safer Neighbourhoods is currently budgeted for and how much that islikely to change, in totality, before you talk about the distribution, in the future? If that isgoing down by 10% or 20% then that has an implication in terms of how that is going tobe spread.The other point is, is the fundamental principle going to be one of a fair allocation agreedlocally, or is it going to be an allocation which is related to crime rates? When SaferNeighbourhood Teams were introduced, there was a move very firmly away from doingit in line with the existing resource allocation working arrangements so as to try to ensurethat communities got, essentially, an equivalent benefit.I think the phraseology that you have used about having a named officer responsible forevery ward sounds like good news. However, you could say that the named officerresponsible for local policing in every ward is Sir Paul Stephenson, because you areresponsible. Or it could be the borough commander or it could be Lynne Owens. Arethese going to be officers who are solely responsible for local policing in their area, or arethey shared with another local area? How big is the area that they are going to beresponsible for? I think those are the parameters we need to be clear about.Sir Paul Stephenson (Commissioner, MPS): Firstly, can we say precisely what thenumber of officers and PCSOs that are currently identified(?)? Yes, happy to do that.Secondly, you ask, “And will it change?” I am going to be perfectly honest and say, “Ido not know Toby [Harris]” because, until we have got clarity around the budget and thecontributions from the local authority, we will not - I can tell you that my genuine desireis to ensure that we continue to deploy the same level of numbers, assets and everythingin Safer Neighbourhoods after this review than before, but I cannot promise to do it untilI know what the budget is, and I do not think you would expect me to do that. My desireis to do that. Let us see how much money we have got.As for your final point about the interpretation of a named officer, it certainly was notintended to be that I would be the named officer!Toby Harris (AM): With your mobile number!Sir Paul Stephenson (Commissioner, MPS): This is what we need to do coming out ofthe review and expose it all in front of the MPA, so there is no mystery and there is nocover up on this. It is intended to be somebody who is dedicated. The one thing I doknow is that, if we do not dedicate someone to that neighbourhood, it will not be real andit will be just like the failed community policing schemes of the past. This scheme hasnot failed because we have not done that and we have dedicated them.www.merrillcorp.com26