BORIS JOHNSON’S flagship plan to put 20,000 more bobbies on the beat could be held up because there are not enough lockers to keep their kit in.
New policing minister Kit Malthouse admitted the biggest-ever recruitment drive for police officers was a “really big target to hit” and one “surprising logistical issue” was finding places for all the rookie cops to store their equipment.
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After almost a decade of budget cuts to forces, hundreds of police stations across England and Wales have been shut down and sold off.
LOCKER ROOM LIMITS
Mr Malthouse, who was London’s deputy mayor for policing under Boris, told the BBC: “I know from my own history that one of the, and it might seem surprising, logistical issues that constrains the number of police officers is access to lockers.
“Police officers, modern police officers, carry a lot of equipment and that all has to be stored somewhere overnight. So finding locker space is going to be key.”
The head of the College of Policing professional body also admitted there will be a “wide variety of logistical challenges” in getting the PCs on the streets within three years as the new PM has vowed. One major obstacle could be a lack of training instructors.
Mike Cunningham said: “Not just getting people through the doors, (but) the assessment process, the attraction, recruitment campaigns, the vetting, all of those sorts of logistical challenges, and then of course training people, making sure they are fit for the responsibilities that they have.”
However he added it was a “huge opportunity” and chief constables and rank-and-file officers have welcomed the plans – which could cost £500m in the first year alone – to reverse huge cuts to the thin blue line under Theresa May. Recruitment will start within weeks.
John Apter, chairman of the Police Federation “union”, said: “I always said the architect of the destruction of policing in the UK was at the hands of Theresa May, it was personal and it was sustained.
“A new PM has come in and in 24 hours has shown more support towards policing than the previous PM ever did.”
Mr Johnson went on a walkabout with police yesterday [fri] in the West Midlands, one of the areas worst hit by a recent surge in violent crime.
