Police failed to solve 97 percent of moped crime in London in the past year, with the proportion of solved crimes falling as the city is gripped by a crime wave, new data has revealed.
In the 12 months to April, London Police solved just 2.6 percent of moped crimes and attacks, or 643 of the 24,294 reported in that period.
This compares with 3.1 percent the previous year, according to data obtained by The Times.
Detective Superintendent Lee Hill, the Metropolitan Police’s lead for Operation Venice, its moped crime unit, played down the statistics and said instead police were working hard.
He told the paper: “Following the introduction in October 2017 of slim-line motorcycles, DNA forensic tagging, and our dedicated Operation Venice teams, we have seen a decline in offences and more offenders being caught and brought to justice.”
In February, police data revealed that moped attacks and robberies have surged by as much as 2,138 percent in some parts of the capital in recent years.
And at the beginning of June, it was revealed that 90 percent of knife robberies in the capital are also going unsolved.
The so-called “sanction-detection rate” for knife robbery crimes, those that end in some form of sanction or conviction, has been falling since 2015, with left-wing mayor Sadiq Khan taking over in early 2016.
The numbers were revealed by Tory London Assembly Member Tony Arbour, who questioned why police were following the “political line” pushed by Mayor Khan of blaming cuts instead of addressing the issue.
He asked if “the real reason why violent crime is increasing on London’s streets is the increasing belief that perpetrators will get away with it?”
In July, official data revealed that more than 90 percent of recorded crimes across the whole of Britain are not ending in a charge or police action.
The low conviction rates come as the nation is hit by a violent crime wave, with violent offences up around 21 percent compared to the previous year across the UK.
In the year up to March, sexual offences rose by 31 percent, knife and sharp implement attacks were up by 16 percent, and homicides jumped by 12 percent, according to the Office for National Statistics.
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