Police taken off beat

Up to one in 10 London bobbies are regularly being taken off the beat to guard terror targets, new figures reveal today.

The statistic will fuel concerns over a lack of visible policing, especially in the outer London boroughs.

It comes after Deputy Commissioner Sir Ian Blair admitted the public expected to see more police on their streets to allay concern over crime. It is also despite official figures that show one in three Londoners lives in fear of disorder on the streets - a figure that far exceeds the national average.

The major increase in time spent away from beat duties increased pressure on the Home Office today to guarantee funding needed by the Met to expand from 30,000 to 35,000 officers.

Commissioner Sir John Stevens has guaranteed to provide every neighbourhood with a team of dedicated officers once he can afford the increase in police numbers.

But Home Secretary David Blunkett has refused to promise the extra cash - meaning the scheme's future remains in doubt.

Graham Tope, London Assembly Liberal Democrats' police spokesman, said: "Londoners are paying more for their police service but, with the increases in the Metropolitan Police Service's counter-terrorist and national security work, they are not reaping the benefits.

"Expanding the Met's Safer Neighbourhood scheme, which provides dedicated officers who cannot be taken off borough duties, would

reassure Londoners. But the future of this vital project is in doubt unless central government guarantees the necessary funding to expand it fully."

The figures show a series of boroughs have seen dramatic increases in the amount of time their officers spend off their beats in the year from February 2003 to February this year, compared with the previous 12 months.

The three boroughs that saw the biggest increases were Sutton, Bromley and Havering - raising concern that outer boroughs are losing out on the beat policing which is vital to cutting fear of crime.

Overall, London beat bobbies spent a third less time on their normal duties in the past 12 months than in the previous year. This week Sir Ian, Scotland Yard's second most senior officer, acknowledged the public had a right to expect to see bobbies on the beat.

He said there was a "success gap" between what the police were recorded as achieving and how people felt - and said breaking promises to put more bobbies on the beat often lay behind the loss in public confidence.

"I do think it is a reality," he said. "I do not believe this is an irrational fear." In the past month police have foiled a poison gas plot and made a series of arrests after the discovery of fertiliser that could have been used to make explosives.