In her latest general election campaign update, Theresa Villiers, Conservative Parliamentary candidate for Chipping Barnet has written about the importance of boosting police numbers and saving Barnet police station:
“Ever since Sadiq Khan announced the closure of Barnet police station nearly seven years ago, I have been campaigning to save it.
While the front desk has closed, the police are still there in the building in the high street. But that is under threat. Mayor Khan wants the police station to be sold off for redevelopment (presumably for yet more blocks of flats!), and the officers moved out.
If I am re-elected, I would do everything I can to stop that sale from going ahead. I will stand up to Sadiq on this issue. A Labour MP would not do that. He would be standing up for what Sadiq Khan wants not what we want here in Barnet. That is the choice at the general election – an MP on our side or an MP on Sadiq Khan’s side.
We must keep our local police station because we need police to be visible and present in this constituency. If it is shut down and sold off, all officers would be based in Colindale. Our neighbourhood teams would spend more time on the bus than on the beat.
I secured a concession from Mayor Khan that if Barnet police station was disposed of, an alternative base would be found nearby for neighbourhood police teams. That was an important victory. But it does not go far enough. It is not clear where the new accommodation would be, or how big, or whether specialist equipment needed by officers could be securely stored there.
Throughout my time as MP, I have taken policing matters very seriously. I have regularly raised these issues in Parliament and emphasised how crucial it is that the police tackle burglary, car crime and antisocial behaviour effectively.
As far back as the noughties, I was campaigning for more police and helped achieve the creation of neighbourhood police teams for every ward.
In recent years I have successfully argued for bigger budgets and more officers. I secured a promise from the Conservative Government of 20,000 additional police. That has been delivered meaning the Met now have more uniformed officers than ever before.
We need our fair share of them in Barnet. If I am re-elected I will keep up the pressure on Mayor Khan to give us more bobbies for Barnet. The head of the Met, Sir Mark Rowley has already said our local ward teams will be bigger. I will push for that to happen.
Now the Conservatives are going a step further. Our plan for Government will include recruiting 8000 new full-time police officers as part of a new Neighbourhood Policing Uplift Programme. This will mean a new police officer for every ward in England.
People expect to see police officers on the streets where they live. Our 8,000 extra officers will have full powers of arrest and will be focused solely on policing their local beat, cutting crime and helping people feel safer in their area.
These officers will work as part of existing ward teams to ensure neighbourhoods have a more continuous police officer coverage. We will require that police forces do not offset these additional resources by diverting police officers already dedicated to neighbourhood duties to other roles.
We will also deliver our successful hotspot policing programme to more areas, cracking down on antisocial behaviour and violence that can blight communities. This will ensure that an additional 3 to 4.5 million hours of patrolling can take place in hundreds of hotspots. Antisocial behaviour is down by nearly 50 percent in some hotspot areas.
Lastly I would highlight my commitment to combating hate crime and antisemitism. I was part of the Cabinet which signed off the annual, now £18 million, security fund to protect Jewish schools and other community premises. I spoke directly to Prime Minister Sunak about the insecurity faced by the Jewish community as a result of the upsurge in antisemitic crimes and incidents since the start of the war in Gaza. In February, he announced £54 million of new, additional funding to the Community Security Trust (CST) as part of the Jewish Community Protective Security Grant."
Digital imprint: Promoted by Theresa Villiers of 163 High Street, Barnet, Herts, EN5 5SU.
