Mayor wants 20 per cent cut in ‘neighbourhood’ crimes

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson will today lay down a key challenge that he wants the police to cut crime whilst boosting public confidence over the next four years at the first Quarterly MOPAC Challenge Board.

The Mayor wants a major reduction in high volume, high impact ‘neighbourhood’ crimes and will challenge the Met Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe to deliver a 20 per cent cut in the following crime categories:

• Violence with Injury; including wounding and serious assaults
• Robbery; crimes of theft with violence or the threat of violence
• Burglary; of both residential and non-residential properties
• Theft of a Motor Vehicle and Theft from a Motor Vehicle;
• Theft from a Person; thefts not accompanied with force (such as pick pocketing)
• Vandalism; criminal damage

The Mayor, Boris Johnson said: “My challenge to the Met over the next four years is to significantly reduce the most prevalent neighbourhood crimes, while boosting the confidence of Londoners in their police.”

“It’s good news that overall crime levels are falling, but there is no room for complacency. By focusing on neighbourhood policing and challenging the police to target the high volume crimes that affect people daily, I want to make London the safest city in a generation by 2016.“

During the Challenge Board, the Mayor will ask the Commissioner to commit to the challenge targets on crime and confidence. The event will outline the varying rates of crime and public confidence in the police across the capital, and will explain the drivers of public confidence in the police. The Mayor wants the Commissioner to achieve a result of 75 per cent of all Londoners saying the police in their area do a 'good' or 'excellent' job, by 2016 (up from 62 per cent today).

The Mayor uses the Challenge Boards to hold the Metropolitan Police Service to account, reviewing their performance in fighting crime and maintaining public safety. Both the Mayor and Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, Stephen Greenhalgh, will question the Met Commissioner, Bernard Hogan-Howe, who will be joined by the Deputy Commissioner, Craig Mackey, and the Head of Territorial Policing, Assistant Commissioner Simon Byrne.