More police officers are coming to Kingston as the Metropolitan Police "prioritises" tackling crime in London "hotspots".

Six town centre teams will be expanded or newly created with 90 additional officers in areas with the highest volumes of thefts and robberies covering Brixton, Kingston, Ealing, Finsbury Park, Southwark, and Spitalfields.

The Met said despite "getting smaller" it is putting more resources and "smarter tactics" into tackling the "biggest priorities".

The Met is shrinking overall by 1,700 officers and staff – it has started by moving officers from the dedicated Royal Parks policing team and schools officers into local policing teams.

Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said: "The Met is getting smaller but more capable. We have a laser-like focus on ensuring our officers and staff are in roles where they can drive down crime on issues that matter the most to Londoners.

"This is what the public expects of the police, which is why we are putting neighbourhood policing first, tackling the crimes that we know are impacting the public in the busiest areas, and making the capital's streets safer.

"We're adding up to 170 additional officers, split between the West End and town centres across London. Thanks to the hard work of our local teams, neighbourhood crime has already fallen by almost a fifth over the last year and moving these officers to the frontline will make sure we are a more visible presence in London.

"While our budget has decreased in real terms, we are using this additional funding from City Hall and Home Office productively to support our mission to take a targeted approach to tackling volume crime and bolster our specialist tactics to disrupt the criminal gangs who fuel anti-social behaviour, robbery and theft."