Mayor’s Police and Crime Plan consultation

You know the war on drugs is lost. A failure at every level yet we keep doing the same things and expecting change! For example, changing the scheduling of ketamine to class A. Has ketamine become more dangerous? No. Its use is increasing not its harm. So by changing the scheduling all that will happen is more young people will become criminals and enter the system, the price of ketamine will go up and the ultimate winner is violent organised crime. 
Whilst on this subject I have to mention cannabis. It’s scheduling within MODA is ridiculous. Scheduling is supposed to be based on potential for harm. By the governments own metric, cannabis is 114x less dangerous than alcohol. (In 2023, England reported 8,274 alcohol-specific deaths, marking a 42% increase since 2019. In 2022, the UK recorded 10,048 alcohol-related deaths, the highest since 2001, a 33% rise from pre-pandemic levels. Scotland and Northern Ireland have higher rates than England and Wales, with Scotland's rate at 22.6 per 100,000 and Northern Ireland's at 19.5 per 100,000.) Famously, a lethal dose of cannabis is is impossible to consume. This does not tally. Currently there are 50,000 private medical cannabis patients in the uk. That’s 50,000 people paying a lot of money into private hands to treat their symptoms. The rest of the estimated 2.5 million consumers rely on the underground market. A small percentage of those people grow their own or rely on a friend or a social club. The rest rely on criminal gangs to supply them. Billions going into criminal hands. It has to stop. Cannabis can be treated exactly the same as alcohol and there is not a rational arguement for this not to happen. It will add billions to the UK coffers by diverting it from organised crime. So, if you want to drastically reduce violent crime, these are some easy steps whilst at the same time increasing uk tax revenue, creating a lot of jobs, increasing general health in the population (statistically correct in USA)

There are still too many times when you contact the police you are told they cannot investigate an issue. This is causing people not to bother taking the time to report issues. We have a strong neighbourhood watch, but have to spend a large amount of time asking people to report then  making sure the local police has a) received the reports and b) are collating information and taking action where appropriate. It should not be this hard.

In the same way that smoking tobacco/cannabis can be a gateway drug into more serious substance misuse, i believe it is clear that 'low level' antisocial behaviour is often a 'gateway offence' into more serious violent offending.  I would like to see a more visible preventative/responsive approach to this 'low level' antisocial behaviour

We need to see more Police on the Streets as a visible deterrent. 
Criminals caught for Minor Offences should require very little paperwork from the Police so they can get back on duty. The offender should go before a magistrate within 2 days and should be required to do Community Service of some kind within a month. Personally, I think that litter picking/properly cleaning streets, cutting back overgrown footpaths, painting street furniture etc would be good tasks. 
If they re-offend (minor crime only) then they should have their picture displayed on local noticeboards and/or be put in stocks so that they feel shame. 
They should also be made to hear a statement from their victim, so that they understand the impact their actions have had upon them. 
So often it seems that the Police are box ticking when a crime is reported, a crime number is issued to the victim for insurance purposes and the Police do not try to solve the crime, leaving the criminals at large to boldly commit more crimes. 
This needs to change! 

The Chris Kaba case should be taken as a most serious lesson. Even with the murkiest of details from the beginning, it looked like an officer trying to stop a dangerous criminal (or seriously mentally ill person) from causing serious bodily harm (ramming into 2 police car, one after the other is pretty good indication of intention to cause harm), but when this unfortunate young man was (fatally) stopped, it was instantly turned into a ‘racially’ motivated attack by the media and the brave and skilled officer was put on trial for murder with his name exposed. Him and his family had to go into hiding when the victim’s gang (down as the most harmful gang in Brixton at the time) in put a 10k bounty on his head. It looked like an officer of the law stopping a violent criminal from putting more lives in danger. It turned out to be just that and a review of the victim’s record would show this. The knee jerk reaction to put the officer up as an enemy of the people when he was acting in public service should be a marked down as a major fail (even if it was a PR win at the time). 

In short - police need to feel confident that they’ll be backed up when taking so much responsibility for public safety in these split second violent incidents. And if we truly want to make London safer, we need officers out there working to rein-in violent criminals like those involved in those incidents (leading up to and including the night of Chris’s death). 

We need more police on the streets  I am chair of a ward panel and the main comment is "We never see the police".  I know they are under huge pressure due to shortages, but there should be a zero tolerance on crime.

action needed on preventing violence and crime :

1. through earlier intervention taking a trauma informed approach, focussing on diversion and prevention programmes working with schools and justice statutory services to reduce exclusion, offending and reoffending.

2. community action to look at vulnerable populations, such as people with communication difficulties who are more prevalent in criminal justice settings. Same for homeless populations who have a high number of interactions with the criminal justice system.

Please hear me out. I’m a 54 year old professional, not a drug addled kid. The issue of the failed war on drugs and its unintended consequence on making some extremely violent people very rich seems to be lost here. We can’t keep failing by doing the same things over and over. We need to look abroad at successes in Portugal for instance, where drug addiction is not treated as a criminal offence but as a health issue. We should also be looking at MODA and having a very serious look at how certain drugs (such as cannabis) are poorly scheduled, based on emotion rather than scientific evidence and statistical fact. Facts such as alcohol being 114x more dangerous than alcohol (gov figures) and thousands of deaths a year directly caused by alcohol. Zero from cannabis. EVERY state in the USA that has allowed adult use of cannabis has lead to an immediate decrease in opiate deaths. Dispensary openings reduce teen use in the USA as ID is required and strictly policed. Where cannabis is available legally, illegal sales are naturally reduced. Elderly people in the USA are the biggest growing market (due to its therapeutic affects), and teens are a shrinking market due to the perception of it being less cool/legal! 
I believe that cannabis should be rescheduled to fit its harms, it should be treated exactly the same as alcohol currently is: off-licence= dispensary, Pub= consumption lounge, home brewing= home growing (with the same freedom to share), Brewery= large scale scale tax paid production, Craft/microbrewery= small scale tax paying craft grower. 
Cannabis is an incredibly lucrative cash cow for organised crime outfits, selling for about £200 for 28g (1Oz). Home growing, taking into account electricity and other costs is something like £20/Oz. At scale the cost would be lower than this. Free the weed any remove it from the hands of criminals and take a valuable income stream from them! 
We have a strictly private medical cannabis system here in the uk that is helping a lot o

I’m very concerned about the Mayor’s direction on policing. This has led to an explosion of crime in London. 

• His response towards the Chris Kaba case was utterly appalling and undermined public trust and confidence in the police unnecessarily
• My area is overrun with illegal drug dealing and taking. This in itself causes waves of crime
• Large chunks of crime have been effectively decriminalised in London, I reported a stolen parcel and the police refused to act as it ‘wasn’t in the public interest’ due to the value of the item inside
• Too much focus is placed on enforcing 20mph limits… doing 24mph on Cromwell Road or the South Circular isn’t dangerous but it seems to get a huge amount of police attention 
• We need to increase stop and search. I don’t mind getting stopped and searched every day if it makes my city safer. I have nothing to hide.

A loving message to the MP, MOPAC and the London planning team.
Council with a duty of care towards people, Council housing smokers with non-smokers in the same temporary accommodation.
Consequence of this mismanagement by the Council: Constant fights between residents, fear, panic, sleepless nights, impacting not only the police but also the NHS, residents sleeping with a knife next to their bed to feel protected.
Council, with its power and duty of care, houses people in boxes with cardboard walls, with ventilation system and dubious public safety.
Constant calls to the police, police promptly respond to calls, thank you for that, MP sends 2 police cars (we all know that London is a prosperous city and I am happy to know that we have the budget to deploy 2 police cars with 6 officers to break up the fight between residents, this fight was caused by one of the residents feeling suffocated by the poor ventilation system in the house). Council aware of poor ventilation system in the house, putting the health and lives of residents at risk.

Consequence of this mismanagement: Multiple calls to the fire brigade, ambulance and reports to the police.

Dear Metropolitan Police of London, talk to your colleagues who manage people, the gentlemen of the Councils.
The mismanagement and inhumane treatment by the Councils - some examples were given above - is where crime is happening in London and perhaps leaving the MP overwhelmed with work.

I want to see a police force that leads with authority, pursues individuals and groups who are breaking the law swiftly and harshly without fear of being reprimanded. Who are visible in the streets, schools, hospitals, transport networks! A tough on crime police force and still work collaboratively with other partners but they are the law enforcement agency and they need to step up. 

Studies consistently show that the likelihood of being caught is a greater deterrent to crime than the severity of the sentence. The police are the only workforce specifically employed to catch criminals, and it is essential they are properly funded to perform this critical role. This includes offering competitive wages in London, where the cost of living is high, to attract and retain talented individuals. At the lower ranks, where much of the front-line work takes place, better pay will draw in the talent needed to ensure offenders are caught.

The Pareto principle of scaling outcomes indicates that achieving double the results may require a quadrupling of the workforce. This reflects the resource-intensive nature of effective policing. A larger, well-trained, and motivated police force will increase the likelihood of offenders being apprehended, reducing crime and improving public safety. More officers, especially at the entry level, would mean better coverage, more patrols, and greater deterrence for potential offenders.

The reality is simple: without a properly funded and resourced police force, the likelihood of catching offenders remains low, undermining public trust and safety. Investing in the police is not just a financial decision—it is a commitment to a safer, fairer, and more secure London. The time has come to prioritize proper funding for the police to ensure they have the tools and manpower to do their jobs effectively. Enough diversion of funding to support roles. 

Ok there's a lot to unpack and much to do, but to start with, a collaborative approach needs someone to take the lead whike others agencies follow, as currently there are too many approaches under the collaborative uumbrella.

While I understand a lack of funding and monies available to support ccommunities are at an all time low, every single hub in local areas are disappearing at an alarming rate. These are spaces where ccommunities formulate and share ideas, spaces where young people can meet and engage possitively, take oownership of their own spaces, develop hobbies and interests that doesn't iinclude county lines.

Just as it can not be the sole responsibility of Met Police to do policing, It can not  soley be the young people or elders in ccommunities taking charge, the wisdome of the elders and the knowledge of the young people who know what's happening on the ground on a daily basis all play a part in developing a strategy that underpins the needs of the individual communities. 

This would mean deliberately targeting the hard to reach youngers and elders of ccommunities who have a lot to offer in terms of knowledg  and experience all of which are needed to formulate effective neighbourhood plans.

The approach to preventing violence (to view and approach it as a health matter rather than just leaving it to police to deal with) is a great way to view this issue. It’s not always going to be possible to entirely eliminate violence but to educate people about the consequences if they behave violently can have a big positive impact on the community as a whole. 

Like I said it’s not possible to entirely eliminate violence and these situations are where police may be required urgently, however rather than to immediately arrest someone, less severe incidents of violence may be better dealt with by education and restorative justice. Obviously more serious incidents such as knife crime etc will still need severe punishment. 

We need to help our prison population survive the effects of climate change. We must install air con in their cells. Love to them.