Mayor’s Police and Crime Plan consultation

Everything is negative and depressing, I don't feel safe anywhere, there is violence and aggression everywhere. Getting public transport used to be pleasant, now it is dirty and noisy and stressful. Shoplifting is out of control. Dangerous dogs, discarded nitrous oxide canisters, bad vibes, pollution, traffic, capitalist nightmare, greedy government. The decline of the NHS, appalling social housing, toxic places of work and education, isolation, poverty and fear.

I can't stand any more.

It is very noticeable that there is very little enforcement in my local area, in particular open drug dealing, fly tipping and littering,  and complete disregard for moving and stationary traffic rules including by buses. 

the police seem reluctant to get out of their cars. This means footpaths and cycle paths away from the road are not policed at all. This results in use of illegal vehicles on the paths, cyclists being stopped and having their bike taken and even near me a stabbing.

I want to echo the thoughts of the Action Vision Zero (AVZ) campaign... the biggest limit to safety on our streets is road traffic. 
Far from the mythical "war on motorists" there appears to be an institutionalised tolerance of dangerous and illegal driving behaviour. Driving without insurance is rife, VED optional and speeding near ubiquitous.
As a result road deaths increased in the last year in London whilst levels of enforcement have not. AVZ highlight that:

• Almost half of speeding offences were cancelled while careless driving and using a mobile phone offences decreased.
• The police and crime plan for the next four years includes just two paragraphs about road danger and how the Vision Zero plan that is being refreshed will set out the Metropolitan Police’s (Met’s/MPS) contribution and priorities.

Reducing road danger and vehicle and cycle theft a deserve more priority in the police and crime plan. AVZ's key calls include:

1. The Met Police share the responsibility of traffic law enforcement with local police – there just are not enough road police officers to do an effective job of enforcement without involving local police in the boroughs.
2. Include road crime as part of efforts to tackle anti-social behaviour – do not overlook the huge impact that illegal and careless driving has on London’s communities.
3. Ensure that crime strategies, surveys and forums include road crime in their thinking – it is vital to treat road crime as real crime.
4. Do better and more to tackle cycle theft.

Speeding, driving without insurance, evading VED, dangerous and careless driving, and mobile use are NOT victimless crimes - aside from the cost of injuries and fatalities, they limit the freedom of people and especially for children, the elderly and people with disabilities to live life fully in their locality. They make parents feel it is unsafe for their children to travel independently to school, they dissuade those without cars cycling or walking, trapping disabled people in their homes.

I was assaulted walking home one night from the bus stop.    I am now afraid because streets are poorly lit.  I feel safer on public transportion, if I can park near the station to get home from the station.  The side streets near my local station are dark, and the council recently removed some of the parking there.  So where I could previously park near the station an make a dash for my car when coming back after dark, that is now not possible.    No joined up thinking.

Nothing makes me feel safe nowadays. The attitude of some people in  the street appears to be, take what you want, shove anyone in the way out of it and if you can nick anything, take it. Most people I know won’t go out at night, they don’t feel safe as the streets are empty, youths drive like maniacs and there is no  presence.

I came to London as a student in 1974, and have stayed on. I love London, particularly the variety of people and their tolerance. I find it a lot safer here than it used to be! The SPG were a hated and hateful police service who terrorised young people, and the other police seemed only interested in vehicle crimes. Certainly I never bothered reporting a burglary, as I lived in short life houses with other struggling younger folk. Similarly with bicycles, I had my 1st 3 stolen, then gave up using them as I couldn’t keep them safe.  I put up with more or less constant unwanted sexual advances and behaviours that are now illegal (praise be!). The police can only reflect the values of the society they come from, like all of us. Tolerance has increased hugely around many issues, but I fear the Met has not kept up. It cannot recruit a  representative section of the communities it polices, because it has retained the old (rejected) values enshrined within its methodology. I mean racism, sexism, and probably more.   I know this won’t be popular…

I don’t use my phone walking on the street, that’s too risky. (I’m not victim blaming, I’m being sensible.)
Better lighting and nicer public spaces helps, having more people around is generally safer.

If you are wearing a balaclava in public you should expect to be stopped and questioned.

 Why can people just walk around dressed like thieves and not  raise any suspicion?

It can be used to protect from the cold or as a fashion statement, but that’s still what most phone snatchers wear.

Same with fat-tyre electric bikes. You drive one, you get stopped and your motor’s power output checked.

Profiling is not good, but recognizing simple patters instead of turning a blind eye to easily preventable crimes should be the norm.

It’s not hard and no decent citizen would object to that, only criminals would.

As a woman, I have never felt safe at night in London in the 50 years I have lived here save from when in busy areas.  Even there, as a younger woman uncalled for  lewd comments, cat calling and unwanted touching were very common.  I doubt that has much changed but as an older woman I am happily generally invisible to men.  This however has its own problems such as being barged and pushed.  This can happen at any time day or night.  Good lighting assists  at least it affords some sense of security.  More visible policing and staffing at public transport hubs would assist.

The run down of Met Police volunteers needs needs to be reversed. Each ward team needs to be complemented by teams of LOCAL volunteers (whether warranted or not) to provide continuity of community contact and a pipeline of recruits representative of the local  communities. Support and encourage Neighbourhood Watch as a socially and culturally inclusive way of achieving this at affordable cost.   

It's disheartening that the police go after pointless things in most cases. Priorities are completely misplaced and actually an insult to the tax paying members of the public. E.g stolen vehicles , burglaries, sexual assault etc are increasing and remain unsolved in most cases closed immediately due to lack of evidence without trying harder.. this needs to stop. And priorities redrawn. 

I still believe that although some  people are prepared to come forward and report crime especially as it happens, many do not. The preferred option of keep quiet and say nothing still exists. Some would rather video any crime for social media rather than do the right first thing and call the police. These stubborn and anti community actions must be confronted and dealt with.

The met was savaged by budget cuts after the 2012 olympics and decided to cut local policing and self off its estate to counter these cuts, but it still wastes vast amounts of money by using officers behind desks in roles that would be better and more economically carried out by staff.

Also by wasting huge sums on internal change programs that are never implemented or just don’t work it has incredibly dated technology that because of poor management is when updated often ineffective and a further impediment to providing a good service.

The met is badly run and the public pay for this, and decisions to close police stations where made by people who never considered the impact of the public especially the vulnerable 

I don't like going out after dark. When I was younger, I went everywhere, but times have  changed. People have no respect anymore. There are too many gangs, dealing in drugs,stealing mobile phones,carrying knives. Society is broken. Too many mental health problems as well?

The current state is bad: phone snatching, shoplifting, drug pushing, burglaries on the increase.

This is is going to be a feedback loop for further increase in crime and severity of the crimes. We must take it seriously.

There is not crime to small to investigate, the law has to be enforced, otherwise it will never get better. Currently small crime is a "free money hack".

Concrete ideas:

• increase CCTV in the strategic places to ensure evidence is present to convict
• unmarked patrol cars in strategic places to catch criminals red handed and ensure convictions
• ensure police officers are not overly obstructed by rules and regulations, we need them but they need to be fit for purpose (apologies but not an expert in that area so do not have concrete ideas)
• use technology to process existing data (long term investing in new technologies that allow processing data from many camera feeds to track one car without many human hours spent)

I witnessed a guy off his nuts kicking a parked police car, then shouting and running after pedestrians hitting them.

When the police came they were more interested in knowing details about the car damage then the physical assaults to the public.

No updates were shared about what happened to the guy, if he was apprehended or not.

We need COMMUNICATION.

I live in N21 and in the past 6 months, just in my road, three houses had burglars and two cars had been stolen or attempted stolen. Police came but with not enough evidence there was nothing they could do. Last week I was victim of a hit and run. Even in this case the police didn't do anything because of lack of evidence. I understand it's difficult to proceed without enough evidence but it would be useful to know what more, besides cameras and alarms, we people could do to provide enough evidence for the police to be able to find and punish the criminals. The person who hit and run, for instance, passed under traffic cameras so I presume there was the possibility to find evidence, maybe the police don't have enough resources to look into finding extra evidence? I am not able to judge what the police should do to find the criminals but I am able to judge that the number of crimes have increased and all the criminals who committed them were left unpunished. Experts should know if the solution is more police patrols or more cameras or other ways to provide enough evidence but clearly something needs to be done because now it's party time for criminals.

I have lived in London for 18 years, and in recent years, I’ve clearly noticed the crime rate skyrocketing. Personally, I’ve had my bike stolen three times, despite it being stored in secure bike storage on each occasion. My car was also broken into once, even though it was parked in a car park with a security gate. I reported every incident to the police, but as expected, none of the cases made any progress. Friends of mine have had their phones snatched right off the street, and I frequently see individuals with their faces covered, zipping around on e-bikes. Despite all this, Sadiq Khan and Mark Rowley continue to claim that London is safe. With that kind of attitude, I honestly doubt that any meaningful improvements will ever be made.

Street lighting in my area has been replaced with LED street lights and they are futher apart than the old ones. The effect is to make all streets dingy and darker than they were before at night. I don't feel safe even walking locally now as you cannot see who or what is coming. There is also an increase in people hanging about outside our local stations and shops and intimidating passers by. I don't feel safe going to  the local shops now even during the daytime and there is no way I would allow my kids out on their own at the moment. Nothing seems to be being done. The same people hanging about for the last year or two.

I have to agree with most people in here, talking about the lack of police force on the road.

The only time you see police is when they give you a fine for going 1 or 2 mile over the speed limit.

20 miles speed limit is ridiculous.

If you really want to save people's life you should convict jaywalking.

Limiting the speed to 20 miles, you're just encouraging even more jaywalking.