For over 150 years, the Royal Parks have been policed by a dedicated team of police, handling serious crimes, protecting wildlife, enforcing regulations, and policing ceremonial events such as the Changing of the Guard and concerts.
Due to funding constraints, the Royal Parks Police will be disbanded in November.
Knightsbridge & Belgravia Councillors Elizabeth Hitchcock and Rachael Robathan joined members of the local police team, who will take over responsibility for policing Hyde Park.
Cllr Rachael Robathan explains,
"I'm here today with my colleague Elizabeth Hitchcock, in the park in Hyde Park, and with our local excellent police team. And we're looking at all the issues that are likely to become under our responsibility when the local policing team for Knightsbridge and Belgravia assume responsibility for the parks in November. And we are really concerned about this, because what's happened is that Sadiq Khan has decided to cut the dedicated police force in the parks.
And that's a worry, because going forward, it means that our police team that is looking after the rest of Knightsbridge and Belgravia Ward will also have to police the parks. So we're working really closely with them to make sure that we can find a way to do this so that it's putting the least impact on our policing resources that we can."
