A Royal Parks charity has raised their concerns over potential cuts to the Royal Parks Police unit.
The Friends of Bushy and Home Parks (FBHP) are concerned the territorial police lack the knowledge and experience needed to police over 3,600 acres of land in Bushy and Richmond Parks.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley told the London Policing board in December that 2,300 police officers and 400 staff will need to be cut from the service to tackle a £450million funding gap.
FBHP chair Colin Muid said: “The fact that Bushy and Richmond Parks are largely crime-free, and experience minimal public disorder, is testament to the police unit’s effectiveness.
“It is the safety and protection of these historic landscapes and the wildlife and rare habitats which they contain, that is being put at risk by this decision.
“London’s population will suffer the consequences.”
The Royal Parks Police enforce a number of laws, with the majority of prosecutions being motoring offences, damage to the park, and dangerous dogs attacking deer or visitors.
The unit also assists park rangers in protecting the iconic red and fallow deer herds, who have been resident in Bushy since early Tudor times.
Muid said: “Too often visitors get too close to the deer, or try feeding them, or even placing small children on the backs of deer for a photograph.
“While the volunteer rangers in the park can advise and educate visitors, and try to persuade visitors to keep a safe distance and not feed the deer, it is only the police who can prosecute someone who deliberately ignores the advice.”
Richmond Council also expressed concerns on the cuts, urging the government to step in to protect the unit.
Council leader Gareth Roberts said: “Bushy and Richmond between them are 3600 acres, that’s the size of the London Borough of Islington.
“It’s like saying that there will be no police on the streets of Islington, and if that was to happen then crime would rocket”.
The council believe it is unrealistic to expect Safer Neighborhood Teams to take on the responsibilities of The Royal Parks.
The borough employ a third-party contractor called Park Guard to patrol council-owned green spaces, alleviating the some of the pressure from the Safer Neighborhood Teams.
Cllr Roberts recalled when Park Guard were employed to patrol the towpath between Hammersmith and Putney, when Hammersmith Bridge first closed in 2020, it came at a substatial additional cost.
Cllr Roberts added: “People would start recognizing the fact that there are no police in these areas and therefore criminality would inevitably rise, because if you want to get up to no good, you’d go to a place where there is definitely no police.”
Muir voiced his own concerns on local neighborhood policing capabilities.
He said: “When the FBHP volunteers in Bushy Park’s visitor center are required to telephone the police call centre to report an incident, the operator usually presumes that we are telephoning about an incident in Bushey, Hertfordshire, because they are completely unaware of Bushy Park in south west London.”
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: “Part of an initial call to police would be to clarify the location a call was being made from or was relevant to.
“In line with what other police leaders are saying, whilst the government has provided additional funding for next year for which we are grateful, the gap remains significant and at this stage, we believe we will still need to make the majority of the tough choices we have planned for.
“We hope that the upcoming Spending Review will help fix our long-term funding issues and put us on a sustainable footing for the future.
“This will be hard for our dedicated officers and staff, but equally will have implications for policing London that we need to work through and communicate when the budget is finalised in the New Year.
“We must now work with the Mayor of London on how best to reduce our services so we live within our means, while doing our best to keep the capital safe.”
Feature picture: Used with permission of Park Guard
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