MORE than 700 West Yorkshire police officers will be deployed to London for the Olympics this summer.

And it could mean that hundreds are away from the county on any one day.

But police chiefs have pledged that it will be “business as usual” for policing Huddersfield and other areas of the county.

The games is proving to be the biggest policing operation ever to be held in peacetime Britain with all non-essential leave cancelled.

West Yorkshire Police Authority is due to discuss the issue at a meeting later this week.

Under a mutual aid arrangement the force will be able to be reimbursed for hours and overtime for officers deployed to London.

The Association of Chief Police Officers estimates that around 9,000 officers may be on duty policing the Games in London alone.

But the maximum number of officers leaving West Yorkshire on any one day is expected to be about 380.

Eli had a question: “Will we notice the difference?

“All I see these days are community support officers. Or will it mean we have to wait two or three days for a response instead of 24 hours that we have to wait now?”

Simple question for Blue: “Is it April Fools’ Day?”

EmmaM added: “Sounds to me as if they are expecting the Olympic Games to be a war zone.

“Also, the crooks and thieves must be waiting in great anticipation for this to happen. With so many police being taken to London the crooks can get on with their jobs in safety and comfort.

“It is so absurd and this is what we pay our rates for.”

In other news thieves are stealing Huddersfield’s heritage.

Stone flags at the base of the Victoria Tower have been taken by villains who struck at Castle Hill.

In2Deep probably summed up many people’s thoughts: “Well, I hope lifting those stones broke their backs and put them in hospital!

“There’s no pleasant way of describing the brainless cretins who do this sort of thing, so I hope they’re caught and made to put every single stone back in place.’’

Big_Steve added: “Best answer is good quality cameras on the tower covering all angles and a gate on start of road to the hill”.