LABOUR councillors have slammed the council’s decision to axe the parks police service.

The council voted through proposals to replace the long-running Parks Police Service with 14 Met officers in a like-for-like swap at a full council meeting last week.

The Met force - consisting of 12 officers and two sergeants - will have greater powers to arrest suspects but can be called away from park patrols to deal with serious crime if the Met considers it necessary.

Cllr Barbara White, of Goodmayes ward, who opposed the proposals along with her fellow 25 Labour representatives, said: “We’re very worried about what will happen.

“The Olympics are coming up, who will protect our parks when these officers disappear to deal with some security issue?”

Her views were echoed by Cllr Aziz Choudhury, of Valentines ward, at the council meeting on May 19.

He added that the plan is “highly risky” because it does not account for plans after the three years duration of the scheme.

The Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) have agreed to match council funding, effectively halving the cost of the police officers, for the three year period.

Many Redbridge residents will be disappointed with the council’s decision after over 2,000 of them signed a petition to keep the park police.

Barbara Edwards, 63, who started the petition, said: “The community link is going to be destroyed because the policemen won’t stay there that long.

They will get bored with it and want to do the big boy jobs on the street.”

Parks policeman Ian Cranston, 46, added: “It took us years to build up that trust and rapport.” “I think the parks will go downhill.”

But the council believes the decision will see an improvement in policing as more officers are able to tackle anti-social behaviour.

Cllr Shoaib Patel, cabinet member for environment and community safety, said: “This is excellent news for Redbridge - we have increased the number of police without spending any extra money.

“It will guarantee that there is always a police officer in each park and they will have more powers to tackle crime than the parks police have.”