All 629 wards across London will get a second dedicated neighbourhood police constable by the end of the year.

Extra neighbourhood police will be used as the "local eyes and ears" of security services in every London beat, Sadiq Khan has said.

The mayor of London and Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe made the announcement following a walkabout in Mr Khan's former Tooting constituency.

He said: "As mayor, the safety and security of all Londoners is my first priority and this starts with real neighbourhood policing.

"Today, I am very pleased to be able to announce the first significant step toward this, with a second dedicated PC in every London ward.

"Our local officers should be known both to the community and by the community. Their local knowledge helps to prevent and detect crime, and they are the local eyes and ears of our security services."

The officers will be drawn from existing neighbourhood teams but will be given designated areas and will be "ring-fenced" from other duties.

Some 260 new ward officers are expected to be in place by Christmas.

Sir Bernard said in the last few years neighbourhood teams had needed "additional flexibility" to cover large areas as the force lost around 2,000 officers.

But he added: "Now we've got back to around 32,000 officers we can dedicate officers so that they are fixed in a certain area.

"It's the right time to do it and it's the right thing to do. I think the public will notice.

"There's no doubt that when you know members of the community they will come and tell you if they are worried about something - they might have noticed a change in behaviour of someone, someone becoming radicalised.

"If somebody will tell us that we will follow it up and if they need help we will help them. If we need an investigation, we will have an investigation, but that starts with trust and trust comes with knowing people.

"That's why having more neighbourhood officers is a benefit."