London Mayor Proposes Disposal of Most of Haringey's Police Buildings

Last month the London Mayor issued a draft policing strategy which proposes a dramatic shift of public contact with the police from face-to-face to online. 

The changes would see the closure and disposal of both Hornsey and Wood Green police stations along with most of the neighbourhood team police offices, including the one for Harringay.

The foreword to the stratgey was as follows:

Our first priority is keeping Londoners safe. That means tackling the things that matter most to communities - terrorism, knife and gun crime, hate crime, sexual offending, domestic violence and protecting vulnerable people from predatory behaviour.

We can have more impact on keeping people safe if we mobilise communities and involve local people in improving public safety and preventing crime. That means improving the way we engage with London’s communities and changing the ways people can access our services to meet changes in the public’s expectations.

The backdrop to these ambitions is a prolonged period of reductions in funding for policing in London. On top of the £600 million already saved from the MPS budget, London’s police now need to deliver a further £400 million of savings over the next four years. £200 million of these have been identi ed, but a further £200 million still need to be found. Tackling this nancial challenge forces us to make some tough choices, some of which are set out in this document.

We are determined that choices made to deliver savings will, wherever possible, protect the front line and improve our response to the public, and that is the intention behind the plans set out in this document. In fact, in many cases, we believe we can replace a current offer which does not meet Londoners’ needs with a new one which is more suited to the way they want to engage with their public services.

Our investment in front line policing, and the equipment needed for a 21st century police force, is made possible by selling expensive to run buildings – many of which only support back-of ce activity – which are underused or no longer needed.

But as well as this speci c pressure to make savings, we will always have a duty to direct resources to those things that matter most to Londoners. With new emerging crime types to respond to, such as cyber-crime; vulnerable victims of child sexual exploitation, rape and domestic abuse to protect; and violent crime, particularly involving knives, rising, we must target our resources where they can do the most good. Only by diverting resources from places where they are no longer needed

or used can we protect the front line in this way and deliver the greatest bang for Londoners’ buck.

While the direction of travel is broadly settled, this document asks a number of questions, particularly about how we should improve public engagement, and we look forward to hearing from Londoners in the coming weeks and months. 

You can read the whole document and respond to the consultation here.