They are meant to be the local face of policing, dedicated to the community in which they work.

But residents of Norbury have struggled to contact their Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT) after it was revealed their mobile phone had been broken for four months.

The phone is meant to allow residents to speak to their team via a hotline, but a fault has meant people have been unable to call direct or leave messages on the mobile.

Instead, members of the public have had to email the team and wait for them to pick up the message, or be forwarded on to a neighbouring ward’s SNT.

It is understood members of the SNT reported the fault to their superiors some time ago but the phone was not fixed until this week, after the issue was raised at both the Croydon Community Police Consultative Group and the Norbury Neighbourhood Partnership meetings last week.

Jason Hadden, Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate for Croydon North, said: “Residents are quite right to be concerned when they are provided with a number to contact their neighbourhood police and find the actual phone does not work.

“This is plain stupidity. It should have been repaired within the day, not allow a situation to persist for four months.

“Is this just another case of Labour promising to resolve crime and causes of crime and yet they have created a paperwork culture which means the police can not even repair a mobile phone?"

Labour ward Councillor Maggie Mansell said: “It has been happening for some time. It is very frustrating when people do call and can’t leave a message.”

Sergeant Simon Stephenson from Norbury SNT said: "Unfortunately the Norbury SNT mobile phone has been out of service for a period of time. We have ensured that members of the public are still able to contact us by diverting our calls to neighbouring ward mobiles.

“However, I would like to apologise to any members of the community who were unable to contact us during this time.

“I am pleased to say that we have now received a replacement phone and people in the Norbury ward can contact us on 07920 233 882 or on 020 8721 2477."

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