The Mayor of London Boris Johnson today joined forces with the Met Police, London Councils, MPA and key crime reduction agencies to launch a new hard hitting board that will shape the way crime is tackled across London.  

The first meeting was held today at City Hall with the Met Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson.Chaired by the Mayor, the Crime Reduction Board will ensure for the first time key organisations are working together in partnership and will also replace smaller crime related bodies to develop a unified approach to tackling serious crime in the capital.

At the meeting the Mayor discussed his concerns about violent crime and suggested ways to work jointly on tackling this serious issue.

The board aims to:

• Identify priority crime issues that London public services must jointly work together to tackle  
• Streamline existing boards
• Identify and target use of best practice
• Strengthen relationships between criminal justice organisations and crime prevention and community safety activity
• Coordinate funding programmes and maximise the value from each organisation’s limited resources through joint planning

The Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: "Tackling crime will always be my top priority as Mayor and this new crime reduction board will deliver the joined up collaborative work we need to make a great impact. The links between education, youth justice, boroughs and crime prevention services are clear and for the first time all the key players will be sitting round a table delivering work in partnership. Londoners deserve a cohesive approach to fighting crime and I am confident this is exactly what we will be able to deliver. “

The Met Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson said: "The concept of a pan-London Crime Reduction Board that has all the key players around the table to work collectively to further reduce crime has to be the way forward. I'm committed to the Met doing the suppression, to taking the weapons off our streets and this first meeting can hopefully pick up the longer term issues that are social policy and beyond the remit of policing alone. Together we can have a longer term and significant impact on making our streets and homes safer."

Kit Malthouse, Deputy Mayor of Policing and chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority, said:

“We made clear in our commitment in the Met Forward that it was vital to establish a single governance structure to harness the work of all the crime and community safety organisations across London. By working together we will achieve more for Londoners, in terms of crime reduction, reassurance and value for money, than any of us could by working alone.”

London Councils Executive Member for Crime and Public Protection, Councillor Claire Kober said: “Boroughs are committed to making sure that people in the capital feel protected in their own city.  Streamlining the existing complicated systems into one board where local authorities, the Mayor and the police all play a vital role will make a real difference to public safety in London.  By working together we will be able to pool our expertise, share information and ensure that our combined resources are used in the most effective way for keeping Londoners safe.”

London has experienced falling levels of crime but violence, with murder rates at their lowest since 1978, a 10 per cent reduction in youth violence and bus crime down a quarter since May 2008. But even the low levels experienced generally have a high impact upon the public’s sense of safety. The Board will be seeking to make London safe for everyone who lives, works and visits the capital, which can only be achieved through working better together and closer dialogue.  Partnership working, bringing together community safety, crime reduction and criminal justice, will help individual agencies achieve their own and joint objectives in a more effective way.
Ends