The Mayor, Boris Johnson, has hailed the hard work of the Met Police and urged them to keep up the pressure on London’s criminals as new data shows that they have hit his target of reducing seven key neighbourhood crimes by 20 percent, a year ahead of schedule.
The news comes on the same day as results of an annual survey, commissioned by the Mayor’s Office for Policing And Crime (MOPAC), reveals that almost two-thirds (64 percent) of the Londoners questioned feel that policing has improved or remained the same since 2010, with 37 percent of BME respondents feeling it had ‘improved considerably or slightly’.
In 2013, the Mayor, as part of his Police and Crime Plan, set the Metropolitan Police Service the challenge to reduce seven key neighbourhood crimes by 20 per cent by 2016. Data today shows that they have in fact cut these crimes by 19.8 per cent, overall since 2012, with over 80,000 fewer crimes committed on the capital’s streets as a result. They are now on track to exceed the target set by the Mayor over the next year.
Of the seven key neighbourhood crimes, robbery from a person and burglary have seen the biggest fall – down 23 percent and 44 percent respectively - with burglary at its lowest level since 1979. Waltham Forest, Brent, Harrow and Hounslow have seen neighbourhood crimes fall by over a quarter, while burglary fell by over a third in areas such as Hammersmith and Fulham, Brent and Lewisham.
Only one of the seven crime types – Violence with Injury – has seen an increase, rising by 13 percent since 2012. With crime falling faster in London than anywhere else in the country, this rise has been attributed to better recording, particularly around domestic violence, and a slight rise in recorded street level violence in some town centres. Concerned by the increase, the Mayor and the Met have responded by focusing more resources on known hotspots and cracking down on licensed premises, which continue to flout the law on underage and excessive drinking.
Since the Mayor’s Police and Crime Plan was introduced, over 2,600 officers have been moved from back office to frontline duties, and last week the strength of the Met force reached a three year high at just under 32,000, with more BME and female officers
The MOPAC ‘Police and Crime Survey’, compiled by TNS, looked at attitudes to policing and crime in the capital. Alongside a high level of satisfaction with police performance it also found that Londoners are now less concerned than they were in 2013 about burglary, violent crime and anti-social behaviour, with concern about burglary falling from 40 to 31 percent, violent crime from 11 to 8 percent, and concern about anti-social behaviour from 28 to 20 percent.
When asked what would make them feel safer, the majority of those questioned said more police on the streets (42 percent), action on anti-social behaviour (23 percent) and better use of CCTV (11 percent). For young people questioned, more police on public transport was seen as a leading way to make them feel safer, with 23 percent of 16-24 year olds opting for this answer
Driving down crime on London’s transport network is a priority for the Mayor and the Met, with crime on the capital’s bus network now at its lowest level. In January this year the Mayor launched the Roads Transport Police Command (RTPC)- the UK’s single largest police command - with over with more than 2,300 Police and Police Community Support Officers working across London to further improve the safety and security of the capital’s roads and bus network and ensure this downward trend continues.
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: “London’s neighbourhoods are now safer than ever before thanks to the hard work and dedication of the Met Police. This has been no easy task but by setting robust targets and raising money from surplus building stock, we’ve placed record numbers of police officers onto the streets to fight crime. Our job now is to keep this pressure up, to bear down on all types of crime and make London the safest big city in the world.”
The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, Stephen Greenhalgh said: “The Mayor set an unashamedly ambitious challenge for the Met to radically reduce victim-based neighbourhood crime by 20 per cent in four years and they are set to deliver this reduction a full year ahead of schedule. Hitting the target is good news and is helping to increase confidence in police performance but we cannot take for granted that it will continue. Our challenge now to the Met and partner agencies is to keep up the hard work and ensure that Londoners continue to feel safer and more confident in our capital city.”
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Notes to editors
· MOPAC 7 neighbourhood crimes. The Mayor's aim is to drive down crime by at least 20 per cent in seven key categories: burglary; vandalism/criminal damage; theft from motor vehicles; theft of motor vehicles; violence with injury, robbery; and theft from the person. These crime types are all victim-based offences, which MOPAC has identified because they are high volume, have sizeable impact on Londoners and are clearly understood by the public.
· the latest data on the MOPAC 7 Neighbourhood crimes can be seen here /priorities/policing-crime/data-information/crime-dashboard
· Survey data was gathered through TNS LondonBus, an internet omnibus survey, as part of MOPAC’s annual research into public attitudes towards the Police and Crime Plan. A sample of 1000 London adults aged 16+ were interviewed via online self-completion between 12th-17th March 2015. The sample has been weighted to reflect the adult population of London 16+.
· For more information about MOPAC please go towww.london.gov.uk/policing
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