Cuts will lead to fewer officers in London

Outgoing Commissioner of the Met Police Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe has told LBC radio that the government’s austerity programme means that his successor will have to cope with fewer police officers. Saying that there are no further places to cut and it is inevitable that cuts in numbers will follow, Hogan-Howe strongly warned that it will affect the quality of policing in the capital. He told LBC’s Nick Ferrari: “There's only so much you can cut and make efficiencies and then you've got to have less police. I'm not sure that's wise in this city. It's getting bigger and we've got some big events - Notting Hill, we deploy 7,000 officers; New Year's Eve, it's 3,500 officers. "You need cops. You can't throw laptops at crowds. You've got to deal with the situations you face. So that's going to be a real challenge." Discussing counter terrorism directly, Hogan Howe added: "We lead the counter-terrorist network for police across the United Kingdom. We've got officers based in embassies right around the world, 50-odd officers covering 70 countries. These are big things that whoever is going to take this job on is going to have to deal with and understand the complexity of it."