Policing In London

Mark made the following contributions to a topical debate in the House of Commons on policing in London:

Mr. Mark Field (Cities of London and Westminster) (Con): The Minister will be aware that I have supported PCSOs since the moment the idea was raised in the House. 

The hon. Member for Edmonton (Mr. Love) said that neighbourhood policing was to the credit of just the Mayor of London. The Mayor must be given credit for doing quite a good job, but he has achieved that only by working closely with local authorities of any political colour. In the hon. Gentleman?s area, I suspect that the Conservative-controlled London borough of Enfield has worked extremely well to make such projects successful. I know that my hon. Friend the Member for Henley (Mr. Johnson) will be keen to build on such partnership arrangements in the years ahead.

Mr. Mark Field: Does my hon. Friend agree that such tragic murders give rise to the perception?the Minister may be correct that it is a perception rather than a reality?that crime is out of control? That is what happens when we see young, 15 or 16-year-old boys with guns and knives killing each other in the streets or homes of London. Does he agree that we ought to be doing a lot more about that, rather than just bandying around statistics? We should at least try to understand why the public at large have such grave concerns.

Mr. Mark Field (Cities of London and Westminster) (Con): I must confess that I am relieved, if not surprised, that neither of my two local authorities is on the potential capping list. That is partly because City of London police will yet again need to dig into reserves, as a result of the unsatisfactory funding arrangements. Will the Minister meet me and representatives of the Corporation of London, not least because of the important national and international work in relation to anti-terrorism and white-collar crime that City of London police performs on behalf of all police and the Home Office at large?