Met Police to cut mounted unit in cost cutting measure

"We're dealing now with thousands of protests every year. We also know that the protest demand on the Met is a chronic abstraction for officers taken out of community policing. Money given to the Met from central Government to cover policing in the capital city was significantly underfunded for the amount of demand that they are currently dealing with."

"We're operating in a time where the protest demand is greater than at any other point, certainly in my 30 years of service, where society is more polarised and divided and where we have different pieces of legislation competing and butting up against each other in terms of different people's rights."

"Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley told MPs this month that it would cost the force up to 50 million this year to fund officer shifts required to cover protests, one of the reasons why the Met has had to substantially cut the size of its mounted branch."

The Metropolitan Police are halving the size of their mounted branch, a unit with over 250 years of history, reducing horse numbers from around 100 to between 40 and 50. Specially trained officers will be redeployed elsewhere. This cost-cutting measure will save approximately £3 million as the Met addresses a substantial £260 million funding shortfall. Mounted officers will continue to support public order operations at protests. The changes take effect next month. The reduction reflects the strain on police resources from increased protest activity across London, with the force managing thousands of protests annually related to various social and political issues. The Met estimates protest policing costs up to £50 million annually in officer shifts alone.

Read at www.standard.co.uk