News from London Assembly Labour

Boris Johnson cuts police as BCS figures show crime rising in London

Following the publication of British Crime Survey (BCS) statistics for the latest 12-month period to September 2011 (compared to same period in 2010) Ken Livingstone said; “Londoners will be shocked that Boris Johnson has cut the number of police officers in London by 1700 over the past 18 months while robbery, burglary and sexual offences have all risen.”

BCS statistics:
* Sexual offences up by 1%
* Robbery up by 13%
* Burglary in people’s homes is up by 8%
* Car crime up by 2% and other forms of theft are up by 3%

In the last quarter there have been more than 5,000 (5,205) more robberies, almost 7,000 (6,785) more burglaries in people’s homes and a total of more than 20,000 more theft offences (20,881).

Boris Johnson has cut 1,782 police officers from 33,260 in March 2010 to just 31,478 at the end of October 2011. Figures published last week by the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) showed the Tory Mayor had cut the number of police in all but one London boroughs over the last year, whilst rates of violent crimes including robbery, knife crime, rape and homicide have all risen over the same period.

Other news from London Assembly Labour

• Ken signs 'One Job Mayor' pledge and challenges Boris Johnson follow - 21 February 2012
• Ken pledges lower energy bills for Londoners - 21 February 2012
• Weekend disruption for Londoners as over half of tube lines out of action - 17 February 2012