POLICING in Bromley faces being without its "fair share" of cops after almost half the PCSOs in the borough were selected to become police constables.

The Met has been on a recruiting drive to boost numbers but with the success rate of applications from Bromley PCSOs at six times the London average, safer neighbourhood teams will lose out until new officers can be recruited.

Out of Bromley’s 119 PCSOs, 49 have been accepted to become police constables.

A recruitment process started in February to fill the vacancies, but it will be the end of August before all the new officers are trained.

There are 180 PCSOs available to be redistributed among the 32 London boroughs until new officers can be recruited but only six have been allocated for Bromley.

Bromley Council's portfolio holder for public protection and safety Councillor Tim Stevens said: "We are extremely angry about the response we have had. We have lost six times the amount of PCSOs as other boroughs but we are not getting that number back.

"It’s not good enough. All we are asking for is our fair share."

PCSOs support police officers by performing routine duties, carrying out patrols and reassuring the public.

A Bromley police spokesman said: "There are no plans to reduce the number of PCSOs serving on our safer neighbourhood teams.

"Bromley - like other boroughs - is due to see some PCSOs start their training to become police constables. However there is a corporate PCSO recruitment process which has just started to recruit 500 additional PCSOs.

"There will be a short term ebb and flow during this process and therefore across the Met Police all PCSOs not in core roles will be redeployed to fill any vacancies arising."