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Paperwork keeps cops off street
Two out of five days spent in office, emails reveal
POLICE leading a drive to put the bobby back on the beat are having to spend nearly half the week in the office doing paperwork, according to emails seen by the New Journal.
Sergeants on the new Safer Neighbourhoods teams (SNTs) – introduced to reverse “40 years of the police’s retreat from the streets”, according to London Mayor Ken Livingstone – are deskbound for at least two days out of five, and PCs for one day.
The teams of one sergeant and five officers were launched with a fanfare by Tony Blair in 2003. Each ward in London has a team, which works alongside a citizens’ panel.
But emails between police inspectors and the chairmen of citizens’ panels in Camden reveal that the success of the popular teams is threatened by mounting paperwork.
Cantelowes panel chairman Meric Apak said yesterday (Wednesday): “The original ethos of Safer Neigbourhoods was to put the bobby back on the beat and gather intelligence through building trust with residents out there – on the street. But now they are in their patrol bases doing paperwork, much of which is set internally.”
He said that the Cantelowes team had to some extent become a victim of its own success, receiving 800 emails and 300 voice-mails from residents every month. “There needs to be more administrative support so these officers can get on with their work,” Mr Apak said.
Chief Superintendent Mark Heath told last week’s Community and Police Consultative Group meeting: “I haven’t got a budget to provide admin staff to Safer Neighbourhoods teams. The only way is for volunteers to help us out.” Mr Apak described this comment as “deeply disappointing”.
The exchange prompted other Safer Neighbourhoods panel chairmen – residents who give up their time to serve on the citizens’ panels which oversee the local teams – to come forward with evidence that their police were under bureaucratic stress.
Emails show office paperwork is increasingly falling on sergeants. They have to arrange meetings, set rosters, and fill in feedback forms for Camden police HQ and Scotland Yard as well as deal with the flood of emails and phone calls from residents.
One Safer Neighbourhoods sergeant, who asked not to be named, told the New Journal: “Everybody knows police switchboards can’t cope with the volume of calls they get. How do they expect one sergeant and two PCs to cope? I need an office manager.”
In an email, a police inspector admits “we are asking too much”, although he sticks to the Camden police’s official line that admin is “do-able” for sergeants, who are offered no clerical support.
Hampstead panel chairman Nigel Steward has prepared a report on Safer Neighbourhoods teams for the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) which will include concerns raised confidentially by police officers.
He said he had encountered widespread unease about the weight of paperwork, adding: “Although every panel is different, they all want their team out on the street. Visible policing is the most important impact of the SNTs.
“Certainly, I do not think volunteers is an acceptable answer in the context of a new proposal which the public were assured is fully funded. Volunteers are already being actively recruited to carry out front-desk duties at existing police stations, and this concept must not be extended to Safer Neighbourhood policing, as the borough commander appeared to suggest the other night.”
Chief Supt Heath was unavailable for interview but his deputy, Supt Martin Richards, said yesterday that Safer Neighbourhoods sergeants were not alone in facing onerous paperwork demands, particularly when it came to major initiatives like Asbos or closing crack houses.
He said: “The amount of bureaucracy in the police has increased and the type of work they’re doing involves a fair bit, as it does for all sergeants.
“To give admin support for those officers would cost around £500,000, and you will never get a borough funding that. I’m content that the teams are out there enough and at the moment everyone is happy with the visibility.” He denied that Safer Neighbourhood sergeants had expressed concerns about paperwork internally any more than other officers.
A statement from Chief Supt Heath said volunteers were an essential part of police support work and added: “Camden’s Safer Neighbourhoods teams welcome the large volume of emails and calls from residents and businesses which help us work together in making Camden’s wards even safer. Clearly, the Safer Neighbourhoods teams have to balance their administrative duties to ensure information being received is acted upon accordingly and used as effectively as possible.”
An official later clarified that no police volunteers, who require security clearance, were currently supporting SNTs.
Crime fell sharply across London with the phased introduction of SNTs from 2003, with Camden having among the most sharp drops in offences between 2004-6. Last year’s figures, however, showed that progress had stalled in the borough in 2006-7.
Richard Sumray, Camden’s representative on the Metropolitan Police Authority, the civilian board which oversees the Met, added to the unease of the panel chairmen at the Community and Police Consultative Group meeting when he said the heyday of increased police funding was over.
He added: “We need to begin to recognise we are at the end of a period of growth for the Met. The government’s spending priorities are going to be in very different areas.” |
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