Lynne Featherstone

Dash off to Performance, Planning and Review Committee at the MPA – the fun never stops.

The big hoo-ha and the reason for all the cameras and the media interest is a report which reveals that police response times to 999 calls has worsened as has peoples’ satisfaction with the action they take when they do come.

Moreover, the tables at the back of the report which show performance on 999 calls by borough and indicate that if you live in wealthy Westminster the police will arrive much more quickly than if you live in the poorer areas like Newham or Hounslow. Post-code policing again! It makes the evening news.

Point is – the Met and I have been fighting for the last four years on this and despite all the extra resources going into the police performance is still worsening. London has a right to expect an emergency response to be there quickly, for the officers to know what they are doing when they arrive and for there to be equal (barring traffic conditions) treatment across London.

So question raised – unanswered by the Met officers at meeting. They are requested to bring forward a report to next meeting explaining their poor performance.

Behind the scenes I am told that the Met tried to get the paper withdrawn.