Met responds to rise in crime stats

CRIME IN LONDON went up 6.4% last year (April 2016 to March 2017) compared with the year before (April 2017 to March 2018) – that’s from 777,458 to 827,225. The rise happened as the Government cut funding for policing in the capital.

The Metropolitan Police have responded to the rise with a range of strategies aimed at tackling key areas of concern. Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt, responsible for Territorial Policing, responded to the figures with the following statement.

“The Met continues to experience a very busy and challenging time against the backdrop of significant reductions in resources. I am very concerned about the rise in crime in the capital, particularly murder, violent crime and knife crime. My thoughts are with the victims’ families of these tragic and horrific crimes which have brought untold misery to countless people.

“We are strengthening local policing by bringing specialist officers closer to communities, and have increased the number of neighbourhoods officers dedicated to particular areas to engage with the public and work with them to keep them safe. There are now two Dedicated Ward Officers and a dedicated PCSO in each London ward and the addition of personal mobile technology will increase their capacity for community engagement.

“Additionally, there are 442 officers that can be allocated to priority wards as additional Dedicated Ward Officers, but still dedicated to neighbourhood policing. We also have officers working with schools on youth engagement and identifying young people most in need of support, intervention and diversion.

“Our policing initiatives are seeing reductions. We are reducing the number of young people who are being injured in knife attacks. We have made record seizures of guns. Theft of scooters and scooter-enabled crime has seen a month-on-month downward trend since October thanks to proactive policing operations, new tactics, and the ‘Be Safe’ awareness campaign.

“However, in the context of the murders that have been committed in our communities, we can only view these as small successes. We are upping our enforcements efforts and building on some of the work we have been already doing. We are putting more officers on the street and have launched the Violent Crime Taskforce.

“We are doubling our targeted anti-knife crime activity with hundreds more officers on visible patrols in affected communities. But despite our continued focus on reducing knife crime, prevention and diversion will always be key. There are complex social reasons why more young people are carrying knives and we have been absolutely clear that knife crime cannot be solved by the police alone. We also need the help and support of London’s agencies and communities who we know are behind us.

“Despite the challenges that lay ahead, the Met will continue to focus on bringing offenders to justice, making the streets hostile territory for criminals, supporting victims and working closely with communities.”

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