Serious violence in London continues to rise. The use of guns as well as knives is a major concern. The Met is reviewing its gun crime strategy but what other steps are being taken to reduce the levels of violent crime?
The London Assembly Police and Crime Committee will hold a question and answer session with a senior Met officer and the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime tomorrow.
Other topics for discussion will include:
999 and 101 call response times - The Met’s public access strategy has noted that in 2017 the demand on the 999 systems had increased by 14 per cent and some calls were ‘abandoned’ which is when a caller hangs up or is disconnected before being answered by a police operator. The BBC has reported that “from June 2016 to June 2017 the number of abandoned 999 calls to the Met rose from 2,606 to 7,740.” What measures are being taken to improve the abandonment rates for both 999 and 101?
Evidence disclosure procedures - after reports of trials collapsing because of evidence that was not disclosed, the Met and Crown Prosecution Service began a review of rape and serious sexual assault cases to make sure that all disclosure processes had been followed.
In February, the Deputy Commissioner told the committee that the review of 600 cases had resulted in some further lines of inquiry. What is the current progress of that review?
The guests are:
- Helen Ball, Assistant Commissioner, Metropolitan Police
- Sophie Linden, Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, MOPAC
The meeting will take place on Tuesday, 15 May, 2018 from 10am in the Chamber at City Hall (The Queen’s Walk, London SE1).
Media and members of the public are invited to attend
Notes to editors
- Full Agenda papers.
- Steve O’Connell AM, Chairman of the Police and Crime Committee is available for interview. See contact details below.
- As well as investigating issues that matter to Londoners, the London Assembly acts as a check and a balance on the Mayor.
For media enquiries, please contact Howard Wheeler on 020 7983 5769. For out of hours media enquiries, call 020 7983 4000 and ask for the London Assembly duty press officer. Non-media enquiries should be directed to the Public Liaison Unit on 020 7983 4100.