Local Labour London Assembly Member John Biggs has hit out at Boris Johnson’s policing cuts after the latest figures from the Metropolitan Police showed that crime in Newham rose 2% over the last year with a 21% rise in violent crime. Mr Biggs said the rise, which bucks the London trend of marginally falling crime, has been exacerbated by the Mayor’s decision to cut 134 police officers and PCSOs from Newham streets since 2010.
Official crime statistics up to March 2015 revealed that overall crime in Newham had risen 2% with 435 more crimes committed in the borough compared with the previous year. The area was one of 15 of the 32 London boroughs which saw crime rises over the past year, with a significant proportion of the rise driven by increases in the number of violent crimes including a 21% rise in Newham.
Mr Biggs accused the Mayor of London of “staggering complacency” after last month Johnson dismissed concerns and boasted that “crime continues to fall”. He warned that the local crime rises showed the Mayor’s decision to cut back local neighbourhood policing teams and cut 134 police officers and PCSOs was starting to have a real impact and urged the Mayor to get a handle on the situation before the trend became entrenched.
The Mayor’s annual survey found that just 37% of Londoners believe the Met provided a “visible, reliable and responsive” presence in their local area.
London Assembly Member John Biggs AM said:
“For months Boris Johnson has refused to see the warning signs and now crime is once again on the rise in Newham. Whilst Londonwide crime is marginally down, we cannot be blind to the fact that in many boroughs including Newham the number of crimes is once again climbing with violent crime climbing steeply with a 21% jump. The Mayor’s approach of dismissing these concerns shows how staggeringly complacent he is being about the safety of Londoners.
“There is no doubt that the Mayor’s decision to cut neighbourhood policing teams and cut 134 uniformed officers from our streets since 2010 has had a profound effect and has left our community worse off.
“The fact that violent incidents are fuelling a large proportion of these crime rises will be of deep concern to many Londoners. The Mayor needs to get a grip, accept there is a problem and take action to reverse this trend before it becomes entrenched.
ENDS