Crime statistics
Friday, 21 April, 2017
The Metropolitan Police Service has published its end-of-year crime statistics for 2016-2017.
Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt, responsible for Territorial Policing, said: "London is one of the safest global cities in the world. There are few others with such low rates of serious crime, such as murder and gun crime.
"Similar to the rest of England and Wales, crime rates in London are rising, but many of these are still at a much lower level than five years ago and are against the backdrop of significant reductions in resources.
"For example, robbery is around half the level of 2006/7 and there were 58 fewer homicides this year compared with 10 years ago. Along with rises in traditional crimes, we are facing new challenges across London.
"We are concerned about the rise of gun crime and rise of knife crime offences committed by young people and the changing nature of the offenders. Young people carrying knives are doing so for a variety of reasons including status, criminality and self-protection but only around a quarter are affiliated with gangs.
"Whilst we continue to focus on reducing stabbings by taking weapons and dangerous offenders off the streets, prevention and diversion from knife crime is key. There are complex social reasons why more young people are carrying knives and this cannot be solved by the police alone, we must work with communities to help combat knife crime.
"We are also managing an increased demand across areas as a result of societal changes such as child protection, mental health and missing people.
"The crime picture has evolved and so must we in the way we police, recruit and operate. We have an ambitious transformation programme which is already underway and will deliver a 21st century police service for London, strengthening local policing by bringing specialist officers closer to communities.
"We are committed to increasing the amount of neighbourhood officers dedicated to particular areas to engage with the public and work with them to keep them safe; by the end of this year there will be an extra dedicated officer on every ward.
"The Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) has published the Police and Crime Plan, which sets out policing challenges and proposes key areas for London, with boroughs and some wards able to set their own priorities. We are also developing a complementary plan to ensure the objectives of the Police and Crime Plan are articulated in a clear set of actions for the Met and this will be finalised later this year.
"We will be changing the way we investigate crimes - training more frontline officers to carry out investigations of certain crimes, relieving some of the burden on detectives. We are also rolling out 'Body-Worn-Video' which is in 16 boroughs so far and will help secure stronger evidence leading to early convictions.
"We have introduced the crime prevention campaign 'Be Safe', which focuses on residential burglary, theft snatch and moped-enabled crime and is supported by operational activity. Its aim is to motivate, empower and mobilise Londoners to take small crime prevention steps to protect themselves and their property, while officers continue to work hard to disrupt and arrest the criminals."
