The Metropolitan Police’s plans to close half its front desks to save money have been revealed in full ahead of what is expected to be a heated meeting at City Hall on Wednesday.
In a list published overnight, Scotland Yard confirms it will break its pledge to have one accessible 24 hours a day in each of the capital’s 32 boroughs.
Just 20 will remain open with 18 being axed in a desperate attempt to balance a £260 million budget shortfall.
They are Kentish Town in Camden; Tottenham in Haringey; Edmonton in Enfield; Harrow; Bethnal Green in Tower Hamlets; Dagenham; Chingford in Waltham Forest; Kensington; Hammersmith; Twickenham in Richmond; Lavender Hill in Wandsworth; Wimbledon in Merton; Hayes in Hillingdon; and Plumstead in Greenwich.
A further four currently with reduced front desks will close at Barking Learning Centre, Church Street in Westminster, Royalty Studios in Kensington and Chelsea and Mitcham in Merton.
Met Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist and Kaya Comer-Schwartz, Sadiq Khan’s deputy mayor for policing and crime, will face furious London Assembly members at an extraordinary additional meeting to urgently discuss the proposals.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp posted on X, formerly Twitter: “The police will now be less accessible and Londoners even less safe.”
Lib Dem MP for Twickenham Munira Wilson was among those who wrote to the Home Secretary demanding that she fully commits to funding the force.
They warned Yvette Cooper “further cuts only put another nail in the coffin of community policing”.
Amid an epidemic of knife crime, mobile phone snatches, shoplifting and bike theft across London, Cooper was told the move “caused significant worry for our constituents”.
In south west London, it means residents cannot walk in and speak to an officer face-to-face when Twickenham, Merton, Wimbledon, Lavender Hill and Mitcham lose theirs.
There are also concerns those on bail will have to travel miles to report as part of conditions increasing the risk a defendant might abscond.
In a surprise move, Kingston police station will remain open to avoid the nearest 24-hour counter to Richmond being Acton, Sutton or Lambeth.
Stella Creasy, the Labour MP for Walthamstow, where a young woman was raped in the town centre on June 29, accused the police in her borough of not wanting to “engage with the public at all” after hearing Chingford will close and residents will need to go to Stratford or online if they want to contact someone.
Paula Dodds, chair of the rank-and-file Met Police Federation, said: “If we close police station front counters the public can’t have access to us when they need it most.
“We can’t hide behind technology because not everyone has access to technology to call the police or go online to report a crime – they want that personal interaction. The public are going to have to go further to get access to a police station if they need it out of hours.”
A Met spokeswoman said: “Just five per cent of crimes were reported using front counters last year, with only one per cent of these being made during the night.
“At the busiest front counter in London on average 15 crimes are reported a day – less than one an hour - and in the least busy, only 2.5 crimes are reported a day.
“Londoners tell us they want to see more officers on our streets.
“The decision to reduce and close some front counters will save £7million and 3,752 hours of police officer time per month allowing us to focus resources relentlessly on tackling crime and putting more officers into neighbourhoods across London.”
She added the Met “is focusing ruthlessly on visible policing on London’s streets, modernising services and increasing visibility in neighbourhoods with over 300 additional PCSOs and over 300 additional officers”.
