“Arrogant wastage” says Ed Fordham, as spiralling costs of SNT police bases revealed
Published: 03 March 2011
by JAMIE WELHAM
THE spiralling cost of police bases that are closed to the public has been revealed for the first time.
Police forked out more than half a million pounds to landlords and utility companies for eight properties across Camden to house Safer Neighbourhood Teams (SNT) last year. And the figure is predicted to rise despite the squeeze on police budgets.
It works out at £23,000 per officer, the bulk of whom only spend a matter of hours at the bases.
The biggest cost is the West Hampstead base in West End Lane which houses just 11 officers and has cost taxpayers close to £1million – roughly £500,000 to start it up and the same on running bills since it opened last year.
The next most expensive is the Gospel Oak base in Queen’s Crescent, which cost £358,444 to set up in 2007 and for which police pay just short of £30,000 in rent every year.
The level of spending – revealed in a Freedom of Information request to the Met – has provoked criticism from those who believe the money should be targeted on officers or at least buildings which are open to the public.
They say officers who spend most of their shifts on the beat should be attached to established police stations, given the SNT bases are for the most part closed to the public.
Former Liberal Democrat election general candidate Ed Fordham, who investigated the spending, accused police of “arrogant wastage”.
“It is absolutely staggering,” he said. “I suspected this was happening but had no idea of the scale. There is a pernicious trend of closing police stations to the public and opening up these high street locations at huge expense that aren’t even open to the public.”
Mr Fordham said the money should be ploughed back into the borough’s five police stations and on protecting officer numbers.
He added: “To spend £500,000 setting up the West Hampstead base is ridiculous. You could buy a place for that and it’s rented from the council. It’s our police force, it’s our money and clearly this hasn’t been taken seriously when making these decisions.”
The revelation comes amid a review led by Scotland Yard of community policing across the capital, which is considering proposals that would allow police chiefs greater flexibility in how they structure Safer Neighbourhood Teams.
Five of the 18 SNTs do not currently meet Met guidelines of at least six officers in every ward. Teams in Belsize, Fortune Green, Frognal and Fitzjohn, Hampstead and Highgate are all under-strength.
Camden’s most senior police officer, John Sutherland, has spoken publicly on a number of occasions of his admiration for community policing.
Camden police declined to comment.