Jenny Jones is calling on the London mayor to make extra funding for local policing a higher priority than Olympic security. Olympic security is expected to cost £800m in the build up, and £600m during the event itself.
Jenny Jones commented:
"The Olympics cannot become a bottomless pit for public funds and police officer resources. Local neighbourhood policing must be prioritised over providing security for large events and celebrities. Londoners need to be reassured that there won’t be fewer police on their local streets in the next few years, as a result of security overload during the 17 days of the Olympics."
"The money being spent on security at the Olympics would pay for all the Safer Neighbourhoods Teams in London for more than 6 years. A lot of that expenditure is recruiting police into the Olympic security team way ahead of their being needed for anything useful."
Notes
1. The budget for safer neighbourhood teams in London in 2007 was £215,460,000. Over six years this would amount too around £1,292,760,000.