MPS response to the quarterly crime figures released by the Office for National Statistics yesterday (Thursday, 16 Oct)
We welcome the crime figures which show that offences continue to fall in London.
Crime in the capital was reduced by 4.4% in the 12 months to June 2014 in comparison to a 0.2% reduction in crime in England and Wales overall.
In London significant reductions continue to be seen in robbery (-19%), theft (-9.4%) and burglary (-9.9%) offences.
However, we are not complacent and already had identified some persistent crime problems, which we will continue to focus our efforts on tackling.
Violence against the person in London rose by 10.5% in line with the national trend, which saw an overall increase of 11.5% in England and Wales. We consider this to be one of our biggest challenges at present and have launched Operation Equinox to coordinate a crackdown in violent offending across the capital.
Equinox aims to protect victims and bring to justice those who commit violence by working in partnership with London local authorities and other key statutory and non-statutory organisations. From this week, officers in boroughs across London are targeting activity against a number of licensed venues, geographic areas and fast food outlets where violent offending disproportionately occurs.
There is some evidence that the increase in violence resulting in injuries is partly down to improved recording practices by officers. However, we also know that a high proportion of these crimes occur around licensed venues and fast-food outlets between 6pm and 6am and are often fuelled by alcohol, which is an issue we are determined to tackle.
While violence with injury has increased, offences involving weapons have fallen - with 312 fewer gun-related crimes (-16%) and more than 1,000 fewer knife offences (-9.3%).
Robbery in the MPS is down by more than 6,000 offences, which is the lowest level in 15 years. The Met has prioritised tackling robberies involving the theft of mobile phones and has worked with industry to make it harder for criminals to profit from stolen mobiles.
A similar pattern can be seen in relation to theft from person (when no threat or violence has been used), which fell by 21%. Again this is attributed to activity to tackle mobile phone thefts both by the police and the industry.
Burglary is down to its lowest level since the 1970s, with nearly 9,000 fewer burglaries (-9.9%) in London. The Met has introduced a range of operational activity and use of innovative techniques to tackle burglary, including predictive crime mapping, the use of traceable liquids, improved forensic strategies and the use of cross-borough burglary teams to catch offenders.
There were six more homicides over the 12 months compared to a year earlier (109 vs 103). 2012 saw the lowest number of homicides in the MPS for more than 40 years.
Sexual offences in London also increased by 17.5%. We have worked very hard with communities and partners to increase reporting and we believe this suggests that more victims have confidence to report these serious offences to police. Additionally, we have charged 88 more offenders with rape - a 14% increase. We will continue to work with our partners to improve our service to victims of rape and sexual assault and bring more offenders to justice.
Reports of domestic abuse rose by 18%. This can be attributed to a range of factors including more victims having the confidence to come forward and better scrutiny of crime reports. A proportion of this increase is also due to the definition of domestic abuse being expanded to include over 16-year-olds and 'coercive control'.
Shoplifting was slightly up (+2.1%) while criminal damage was down by 3.4%.
Assistant Commissioner Helen King, the head of the Met’s Territorial Policing, said: "It’s good news that crime continues to fall in London, and I’d like to thank our partners and the public for their support to our hardworking officers and staff in achieving this"
"London is one of the safest capitals in the world and we are committed to tackling the rise in violent crime, supporting victims and bringing offenders to justice.
"It is also essential that we work closely with our partners and licensing venues who all have a role to play in tackling this problem."