'Snoopers charter', Boris Johnson and fairy godmothers: Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe meets Kingston and Richmond residents

He visited Tiffin School on yesterday to face questions from residents of both Kingston and Richmond.

Sir Bernard has been head of the Met since 2011 and has steered the force through a swathe of recent cuts, including severely reducing the number of PCSOs in order to keep the number of officers as high as possible.

Of those cuts he said: "There may be further job cuts and we don't know what that will mean.

"We are still going to be here. That will be our job, to carry on whatever they give us [funding] but it has been quite a challenge over the last few years."

When asked about his views on outgoing London mayor Mr Johnson he said: "He's supportive of the police, been demanding, wanting us to get costs down, confidence up and crime down."

Sir Bernard was grilled on his reaction to Home Secretary Theresa May’s Investigatory Powers Bill – the second attempt to force internet providers to store details of every user’s activity, dubbed a snooper’s charter – which she hopes will be backed by MPs before the summer.

He said: "Well I wouldn't call it that. We say we need it and I think we need it. The police need this information. If we don’t have it then we don’t suffer but the public might."

The bill was introduced in the House of Commons on Tuesday. Shadow Home Secretary Andy Burnham told the Independent on Sunday: “It is crucial that this bill is not rushed and necessary time is given to consider these complex issues.

"It needed to be considerably revised after three expert reports just a matter of weeks ago."

The Privacy International advocacy group said: “If adopted as currently envisaged, the Bill would codify a practice of mass, untargeted surveillance by the UK intelligence services that treat everyone as suspects.”

Lobbyists for internet service providers said earlier this year that the Government should foot the entire bill for extra infrastructure needed to store users’ data.

Sir Bernard gave a brief presentation showcasing crime statistics in Richmond and Kingston, comparing the periods between February 2015 and January 2016, and February 2014 and January 2015.

In Kingston violence with injury went up by 26 per cent, with total recorded crime up 4.1 per cent, he said. Residential burglary went down by 12 percent and vehicle theft also fell, by 6 per cent.

In Richmond total recorded crime rose by 0.4 per cent, with violence with injury going up by eight per cent – meaning 63 extra offences.

Chessington North and Hook councillor Margaret Thompson asked: "Are you making a firm link between the Kingston night time economy and the rise in crime?"

Sir Bernard said: "In terms of the night time economy I wasn't making an obvious link."

Kingston police borough commander Glenn Tunstall, who joined Sir Bernard and Richmond's borough commander Colin Kennedy, said Kingston's night time economy is the third biggest in London.

He added that since £1.2m was used to install a town centre team crime has reduced. The team is made up of 15 Kingston police officers, led by sergeants Dave Williams and Will Holland.

The commissioner was also asked about cyber crime, how police deal with people who have mental health issues, police officers being made to wear body cameras, and what he would do if he had one wish from a fairy godmother.

To the last question Sir Bernard, who reportedly took home a basic salary of £275,550 in 2014-15, said: "In terms of what does the fairy godmother give it's obvious - double the salary.

"Actually what I meant was double the budget, it'd be nice to get a bigger police force.

"My point being in this big city our officers and staff have quite a few challenges. In this great bustling city that's growing at pace we are going to have to have more resources in the future not less."

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