BEXLEY'S new police commander has admitted there is a massive gap between what the public expects from the police and what can be delivered.

Chief Superintendent Chris Cerroni told a meeting of neighbourhood watch co-ordinators he cannot get officers to a large proportion of the 7,000 calls a month, received at Bexleyheath police station.

And he has suggested ordinary people should become business and neighbourhood wardens, to plug the gap.

Mr Cerroni said Bexley was never going to get the 450 police officers it would like.

“But where are the bus conductors and the park-keepers who used to keep things in order?

He said he would like to see business wardens working with the police to deal with incidents such as shop-lifting and to increase the number of volunteer special constables from six to 50 and use them in youth disorder hot spots.

But there is some hope for an increase in police numbers in the borough. Despite disappointment over the lack of action on Bexley's 37,000-name petition last year, it looks as though it may have had some effect.

The petition asked the Metropolitan Police Authority to change the formula it uses to decide how many officers are given to each police division. Bexley says the formula discriminates against the borough, giving it the lowest number of officers in the whole of London, even though it does not have the lowest crime rate.

Now a review of the formula is under way and Mr Cerroni is a member of the review panel apparently as a direct response to the petition.

The panel is expected to report back in the autumn.

Bexley's Greater London Assembly member Bob Neill has also weighed in on Bexley's behalf at the MPA meeting last week, saying the bias against outer London boroughs like Bexley cannot continue.