Budget cuts will hit policing of 2012, warns top officer

A rank-and-file police chief has admitted that policing the 2012 Olympics in London will be a "great burden" for the Met because of the planned government spending cuts.

Police Federation chairman Paul McKeever said the force would be "stretched" if budget cuts of 25 per cent go ahead. He warned that up to 40,000 frontline police jobs could be axed.

Mr McKeever made the comments at a fringe meeting at the Labour Party conference in Manchester.

He told the Standard: "There is nowhere else in the country that experiences the same policing problems as London. It is completely unique and presents its own difficulties.

"The 2012 Olympics is another dynamic altogether and it will be affected by the cuts. The Olympics will be a great burden on the Met.

"The Met is already stretched enough as it is in terms of policing events."

Mr McKeever added: "We are astonished that we are even talking about 25 per cent cuts to the police service. The reality [of the cuts] is horrifying. We are looking at 40,000 officers being lost across the country.

"The 25 per cent cuts are going to have a detrimental effect on the communities we serve."

A report last week revealed that the Met is planning to recruit 900 fewer officers by next year than originally planned.

It is already trying to meet general grant cutbacks of £28 million and a cut of £5 million in its counter-terrorism budget.

Speaking at the meeting, Sir Hugh Orde, President of the Association of Chief Police Officers, said: "We will do everything we can to protect frontline policing. But anything we can do to make us more efficient we will do."