The borough is set to lose three police officers in a controversial GLA reshuffle.

The Greater London Authority met on Monday (Dec 10) to agree on the new formula used to divide the extra 1, 050 officers they plan to recruit in the new year among all London's boroughs.

While many areas have benefited from the formula, at full-strength Ealing will have three fewer officers on the beat under the new regime.

The new Resource Allocation Formula (RAF) takes into account factors which are related to crime such as social deprivation, levels of unemployment, truancy and the number of licensed premises.

The outgoing Butgeted Workforce Target (BWT) calculated the demand merely by looking at numbers of crimes.

Under the new RAF, Ealing has come out with a target of 653 officers as opposed to the old target of 656. The number of police officers in Ealing is currently 618, leaving a shortfall of 35 officers.

Deputy chairman of the Metropolitan Police Authority Richard Barnes predicted that Ealing will receive the outstanding 35 coppers by December next year.

Mr Barnes, who is also the GLA member for Ealing, said: "I believe we'll have the 35 new officers we need, and therefore be at full strength, by the end of next year."

DCI Michael Murphy of Ealing said: "The way to look at it is that we'll never have enough officers to police such a large borough and we've been severely under-strength for a long time.

"The new formula gets us 35 officers quicker than the BWT would have, and 35 new bodies can make a huge difference to the way we police Ealing."

However, the GLA Conservatives yesterday revealed that there are 1,400 fewer police officers on London's streets than four years ago.

The party's analysis shows police strength in the city was 16,545 at the end of November, compared with 17,979 at the end of 1997.

Leader of the GLA Conservatives Bob Neill said: "Londoners will find it extraordinary that when street crime in the capital is soaring, there are fewer police on our streets."

The GLA is on target to recruit 1,050 new officers across London in the financial year beginning April 2002.

Mr Barnes added: "This new target is more likely to be achieved quickly. Many boroughs had more police officers than they need. They will not be considered when the new recruits are handed out next year whereas Ealing will be at the front of the queue."

December 19, 2001 18:30