Sadiq Khan’s London has seen an “appalling escalation” of serious crimes including murder, violent robbery, and home burglary in the last year, according to new police data.
Figures released by the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee showing the number of crimes in the year to March 2018 revealed the murder rate surged 44 per cent in 2017/18 to 157, compared with 109 in the previous 12 months.
Violent robbery and home burglary were up by about a third in the period, and youth killings rose by 30 per cent from 26 in 2016/17 to 34 in 2017/18.
The figures also showed sharp increases in the number of rapes (18 per cent), knife crime offences (21 per cent), and shootings (23 per cent) from the previous year’s data.
Committee chairman Steve O’Connell said: “The unacceptable rise in the most heinous crimes such as murder, street robbery and burglaries is deeply troubling.
“The Mayor of London and the Met need to take urgent practical steps to address these crimes, all of which are a third up from this time last year.
“Our committee will be asking what steps are being taken to keep Londoners safe and reverse this appalling escalation in crime.”
However, Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Helen Ball told the London Assembly there are signs that the violent crime wave is “stabilising”, pointing to figures which showed “considerably lower” murder rates in April and May compared to the previous two months.
Highlighting a large increase in the Met’s use of stop and search, with officers having carried out more than 12,000 in April, she reported that the surge in knife crime seen earlier this year seems to be slowing down.
Sadiq Khan, who vowed to “do everything in my power to cut stop and search” during his campaign to be London Mayor in 2015, has repeatedly blamed rising violence in the city on central government spending cuts.
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