Supt Biju Premnath said “frontline” services would be protected but others such as mounted police and forensic services are “at risk”.
He said these were are result of “some of the tough choices” that Met Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley “is having to make because of the significant funding shortfalls that we’re facing”.
Supt Premnath said: “The priority is to protect frontline services in the borough, including the ward teams and town centre teams.
“Just to really stress that, in terms of boots on the ground, the ward team strengths and town centre teams remain unchanged.
“Although those frontline services are being protected, other units that are sort of considered the pan-London units are at risk.”
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Supt Premnath said these included dog units, mounted roads and policing and forensic services.
Barking and Dagenham’s police cadet scheme for teenagers would also be reduced, taking on fewer volunteers.
Supt Premnath said: “The volunteer police cadet team is not stopping, however we can’t continue on the scale that it has been up until now and we will be reducing the overall number of cadets and also limiting the scheme to a smaller cohort of 14 to 17-year-olds.”
Premnath gave the warning at a meeting of Barking and Dagenham Council’s overview and scrutiny committee on July 2.
Labour councillor Phil Waker asked why the Met was planning cutbacks despite having received an increase in funding earlier this year.
London mayor Sadiq Khan awarded the Met an “additional” £83million in funding – £10m from City Hall and £73m from central government – in March, bringing the force’s total funding for the year to £1.16billion.
Cllr Waker said: “I believe there’s a lot more to look at as to why there’s more money and less funding, which is not making sense to people – certainly not making sense to a lot of London MPs I think.
“They will be going back to the home secretary, the home affairs committee to push on that further and say why is it that London appears to have all these negatives against a background of higher spending? It’s a dichotomy we haven’t got to the bottom of yet.”
Clllr Waker also questioned plans to reduce the cadet scheme. He said the scheme offered an “avenue of recruitment” into the police and that reducing it “seems a rather backward step”.
Supt Premnath replied that the additional funding had not been enough to cover the shortfall in the Met’s budget.
He said: “The Met initially faced I think roughly a £460million budget shortfall last year.
“As additional funds were made available from the mayor and then from central funds that gap has reduced but there’s still a significant shortfall – so that’s why we are still having to make these tough choices and cuts.
“It’s not going to be an increase in money, it’s a slightly reduced problem, but it’s still a significant problem with funding.”
Supt Premnath said the police would still keep its cadet scheme but that it doesn’t have “the capacity and capability to manage that in the same way we did in the past”.
