Because the police don't want to patrol our mean streets on foot someone came up with this idiotic idea of dressing up these people with things hanging off them and claiming they were 'local bobbies'
taking it easy!
Bobbies have always been properly trained police constables who would be constantly patrolling their allocated streets. They would be qualified to arrest and detain and were a proper deterrent. These guys are not 'bobbies'!This local 'bobby' here costs virtually the same as a trained police constable. Over his working life will cost us a fortune in pension costs etc.
The entire scheme is just a way of conning the public
The number of police community support officers (hobby bobbies) in the Met has declined by about a third since 2015, according to the Home Office.
ReplyDeleteLocalBobby is the name of a private security company, so maybe the local residnets have paid for it or the local Business Improvement District. They certainly do not have the powers of a constable
ReplyDeleteThe RBKC leadership prefers these inadequate at best community officers to bobbies on the beat. The council is increasing the numbers of them after having cut council funded police officers by over 77%.
ReplyDeletehttps://thisisnorthkensington.wordpress.com/2023/05/23/more-rotten-borough-spending-priorities-plastic-wardens-over-real-police-officers/
When the 'Community Police Service ' wardens were introduced , because they lacked the powers and trained of proper Police Officers my friends took to calling them 'The Plastic Police'. Nevertheless when they were deployed as part of a carefully developed and properly funded Community Policing strategy and worked under tight Met Policing supervision they did seem to work & RBKC council bought into them with enthusiasm
ReplyDelete. And then Johnson , the great destroyer came along as London Mayor . He happily acquiesced in the sharp reduction of Police numbers and budgets and did not raise a finger in the defence of London from Cameron/Osborne/Clegg's wicked austerity regime . The cheaper Plastic Police were used more and more to substitute for proper coppers and Johnson started the programme of closing stations and taking both proper and plastic police of the beat. The real Police now seemed to have retreated back into their squad cars and no longer engage with residents . Several local authorities now seem to have started to deploy a new service of substitute wardens - cheaper even than the former Community Service ( l guess we can call them 'Paper mache ' Police ).l doubt very much that from what l have seen of them they will either reassure residents nor deter Criminals. 13 years of Tory government and austerity have destroyed any cohesive Policing Service , crippled the Court System and demolished Youth and Probationary services everywhere.
Sadiq Khan is not perfect but he is trying to make the best of a bad job whilst the funding made available to Labour voting London gets smaller year by year . No wonder the Tories cannot find credible candidates from amongst their ranks to stand as Mayor &. tackle the problems created by Tory austerity