Waltham Forest has turned its campaign for extra police patrolling the borough’s streets into a personal appeal for back-up to the mayor of London, Boris Johnson.
The council says it’s had sympathy and support from the Metropolitan Police Authority but no more permanent bobbies on the beat. It says it is currently receiving around 50 extra police officers a day and they are having an effect but they are only temporary and what is needed is extra police officers stationed full-time in the borough.
Council leader Chris Robbins said: “Boris is the man holding the purse strings when it comes to policing in London and the buck stops with him. The bottom line is that our local police work really hard, but there are simply not enough of them to go round. The fact that neighbouring boroughs with similar crime rates have many more police officers to help them cope is nothing less than criminal.”
More than 7,300 residents have already signed a petition calling for more police in Waltham Forest and you can add your name here: http://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/surveys/backup/backup.htm
