The recent announcement of budget cuts means the number of officers to fall and the Met police will have to prioritise on whom to respond in person. This is quite scary as this was least I expected to hear in the midst of increased number of house burglaries, knife crimes & phone snatching.
Everyone got so excited back in March 2017 when government announced about hefty fines for using touch screen devices while driving. Everyday I see numerous drivers use their mobile phones while driving; no issues at all! There is absolutely no system in place to notice & penalise these drivers!
I notice numerous cyclists (not all of them but many I would say) break traffic lights, use pedestrian way, drive recklessly or not wearing a high-vis/helmet. Again, there is absolutely no officer present to monitor that. Same thing applies to reckless driving, changing lanes without indicating, road-rage, speeding, etc.
Firstly PCSOs disappeared from the streets, now it’s turn for many of the police officers to vanish! They will now assess the seriousness of the crime, how concrete the CCTV footage is, the vulnerability of the victim, etc before deciding whether to attend the scene or simply to issue a crime reference number over the phone!
Devang Bhatt
London
