Crime clear up rate only 14% in Livingstone's London

Conservative Mayoral Candidate, Steve Norris, has published a report which shows that the clear up rate for crime in the capital is the lowest in England and Wales. Crime clear up rates have fallen from 25% in the late 1990s to just 14% today.

Steve Norris said: "Ken Livingstone has never been prepared to take crime in London seriously. He says he feels safer in New York than in London but does nothing about it. These figures show that not enough criminals are being caught. We need a mayor who makes crime his top priority. This report demonstrates why we need a completely fresh approach to the deployment of police in London, with police officers switched from car to foot patrol in much larger numbers".

The findings of the report, entitled Clear up rates for the Metropolitan Police Service, include:

· Since the mid-1990s, clear up rates in London have fallen from 25% to 14%. Despite a 3,000 increase in the police numbers since 2001, the clear up rate has remained static.

· An analysis of the clear up rate by crime type shows that 'quality of life' crimes have the lowest clear up rates, with 'criminal damage' having the lowest clear up rate at 8.5% and thefts at 8.7%.

· Even for more serious offences, the clear up rate is still low - only 1 in 3 sexual offences, 1 in 4 violent assaults and just 1 in 8 robberies are cleared up.

· London has the lowest clear up rate of any major police force in the UK. The clear up rates for key areas in the capital are significantly lower than for comparable areas elsewhere in England including West Midlands and Merseyside.

Steve added, "of course, we need more police officers in every borough and every part of the capital. But just as important is how those officers are deployed. We need a much higher visible policing presence on the streets, with more officers patrolling on foot than in cars or waiting in police stations. We need to prevent and deter crime rather than just trying to catch criminals after the offence has been committed."

Richard Barnes, London Assembly Conservative Spokesman on Crime and Policing, who produced the report, commented, "Mayor Livingstone has spent the past three years ignoring crime in London with little sign of any real action. Since the Mayoral election, the number of crimes committed in London has continued to increase with violent offences up by 15%, thefts up by 12% and drug offences up by 40%. Hardly surprising then that two thirds of Londoners are fearful of crime on their streets. These clear up rates now show that we are just not catching enough criminals either. We want to use this report to stimulate thinking about new ways to improve policing in London to deliver a safer city".

ENDS.