Cllr Aicha Less

THE salaries of full-time police officers are to be paid by the city council for the first time.

Nine officers, costing £3million over three years, are being drafted in as part of a crackdown on anti-social behaviour.

It is the first time Westminster has funded Metropolitan Police Service officers directly. It follows an announcement by the MPS earlier this month of a major shake-up of policing due, that includes wide-ranging cuts to front-line officers across the capital.

The team will work specifically on policing crime hotspots for “anti-social behaviour” and will be enforcing a new wave of public space protection orders (PSPOs). A formal decision will be taken in early September but the project was agreed by senior councillors yesterday, Thursday.

Deputy council leader and cabinet member for public protection, Cllr Aicha Less, said: “People get a lot more reassurance from seeing police on the streets and the new team will be on foot or on bikes, in the heart of the community they serve. They will be working on targeted intelligence and going to where our residents and businesses know they are most needed. We are already getting significant results from the council-run CCTV cameras we introduced in 2024, and the anti-social behaviour police team will build on that momentum together with the city inspectors.

“As ever, the feedback of local people is invaluable in where we deploy these resources so they really make a difference,” said Cllr Less.

The new “police and council tasking team” will be sent to troubled areas of Westminster, starting with Pimlico and Victoria. A PSPO will be implemented in south Westminster from September 1.

The orders – the latest incarnation of ASBOs, which were scrapped for being ineffective in 2010 – give police and the local authority powers to hand out £100 fines for anti-social behaviour.
ASBOs were often criticised for criminalising struggling people, like the homeless, who were often banned from being in certain areas by the orders.

Westminster Neighbourhood Policing Superintendent Natasha Evans said: “These officers will work on tackling volume crime that leads to anti-social behaviour and especially crime that matters most to communities.”

The Labour council is also upgrading Westminster’s CCTV network with 40 new cameras in the West End.

Council leader Adam Hug said: “Anti-social behaviour has a corrosive effect on neighbourhoods. Whether it is vandalism, noise, drinking or the more serious realm of blatant drug dealing, it undermines the quality of life and can make people anxious to leave their front doors. The significant investment to create a new 18-person team of dedicated police and city inspectors shows just how seriously we take anti-social behaviour and the crime that affects our communities.

“We will keep on using all the measures at our disposal – from targeted police to public space protection orders – to combat this kind of crime and keep our streets safe. So I warmly welcome this new partnership with the Metropolitan Police.”