Introduction from Sophie Linden, Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime

Hello, I’m Sophie Linden and I’m the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime here in London.

The Mayor, Sadiq Khan, and I are responsible for overseeing the work of the Met Police on behalf of Londoners – making sure they are tackling the things that matter to you and delivering a professional, effective and efficient service.

We are also responsible for agreeing the annual budget for the Met, funding crime prevention projects and commissioning services to support victims of crime.

The Mayor and I are working on a new Police and Crime Plan for London which will set out what the key priorities will be for the police and other partner agencies over the next four years.

We have recently published a draft of this plan and we want to hear what you think about it.

In the plan, we set out what we think are the biggest priorities for the safety of our city in the years ahead, the things we will do to address them and how we will measure our progress.

These priorities are:

• reducing and preventing violence in all its forms, such as knife crime, gang violence, violence against women and girls and terrorism
• increasing trust and confidence – making sure that all Londoners feel that the police treat you fairly, provide a professional service and are dealing with the local crime and antisocial behaviour issues that matter to you
• better supporting victims of crime – providing the services victims of crime need to cope and recover from their experiences, and supporting more people to pursue cases through the justice system all the way to trial
• protecting people from exploitation and harm – working together with the police and other agencies who often come into contact with people at risk of harm – such as when people go missing, or when children and young people are targeted by criminals for exploitation and abuse – and doing everything we can to keep these people safe.

Being safe and feeling safe in our city is so important to all of us, and we want to hear from you about the plan we have put forward.

We are here to serve you, and what you tell us will help us make sure we are focused on the things that really matter to Londoners in the years ahead. Thank you.