Commentary
| Date | 01 July 1973 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X7304600301 |
| Published date | 01 July 1973 |
| Subject Matter | Commentary |
Great Worry
"The strength in the Metropolitan Police area gives me cause
for great worry", the Home Secretary said in the House of Com-
mons on May 3. The force fell by 50 officers in 1972 and the first
quarter of 1973 saw a fall of 84. The authorized establishment is
25,000; the actual strength is 21,257. In New York, to police about
the same-sized population, the City Police Department has 33,000
officers. In Paris, with a much smaller population, the Prefect of
Police has some 30,000.
Why is it that the most famous and best respected major police
force in the world is so short of officers?
It
is not that recruiting
has failed. The problem is not getting men but keeping them.
The shortage of manpower is in itself one answer to the question,
for it means continuous extra hours being worked, with cancel-
lation of weekend leave and rest-days, and consequent disruption
of domestic life and family arrangements. Shift work hits home life
hard enough at the best of times; the additional burden is simply
too much for many officers. They transfer to provincial forces
where conditions are better or they leave the Service altogether.
Another answer is the cost of living in London, especially the
cost of housing. A constable's pay is not large enough to get the
big mortgages which ordinary people seeking a house or fiat in
London have to obtain. A patrolman in New York, where the cost
of living is certainly not much (if at all) higher than in London, can
earn $20,000 a year - £5,000 a year more than his Metropolitan
counterpart.
There is a very strong case for a substantial increase in the basic
pay of the Metropolitan Police. The justification for a big "differ-
ential" is clear; it is based upon the economic facts of life, which
take no account of administrative convenience or political shib-
boleths. Whatever other restrictions the Government may insist
upon, they will be extremely foolish if they do not take the
necessary steps to ensure
that
the policing of the capital is brought
up to a more adequate strength.
The quality of life in London, so long a source of pride in respect
of the citizen's freedom to walk safely in his streets by day and
night. has recently been impaired by criminal violence. The pub-
licity given to this has left in the background the graver danger
of a protracted emergency to which an already overstretched police
force would be in a poor position to respond.
It
is axiomatic that
July
1973 202
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