08 May Inforgraphic: Crime in London
Police in London have vowed to increase their presence in the capital amid a rise in violence over the past couple months.
According to the latest reports by the Evening Standard, a 17-year-old male was shot and succumbed to his injuries in south London, while three others are injured following shootings in Wealdstone and Lewisham. In Perivale, North-west London a 43-year-old man was stabbed following a dispute and two men, aged 22 and 27, and a 17-year-old boy suffered “life-changing” injuries after being attacked with a “noxious substance” in Hackney in the early hours of Bank Holiday Monday.
The Evening Standard and the Metropolitan Police had labeled it a “weekend of bloodshed”, while a grieving mother is calling for an end to “killing our black boys”. But its not just this weekend that has seen instances of violent crimes, over the past couple month there has been increased reports of shootings, knife crimes, gang related killings and vehicular homicides. Has the crime rates in one of the most popular and most visited cities in the world gone up? And is it a safe city to live in?
As with various cities around the world, its hard to measure crime in London. In New York, another popular world city, the crime statistics have been known to hit record highs but are never truly accurate as some of these figures can be misleading.
Recorded crime Statistics need to be treated with caution and have sometimes been shown to show opposite trends to victim surveys or to violence as measured by hospital intake, however, police figures are usually the only available way to gauge local crime. Amidst a growing trend including a 40% growth since 2014, some newspapers reported murders in London exceeded those in New York (a city with the same population) for the first time in February 2018.
It might be fair to say though that one month can give a bit of undue weight to the reality of the situation. Latest figures suggest that New York recorded 57 murders in January through to March 2018 whereas London recorded 45 during that same period. Further using annual statistics for 2017, New York has a significantly higher homicide rate than London, with New York recording 3.4 homicides per 100,000 people whereas London recorded 1.2.
Greater London is served by three police forces; the Metropolitan Police which is responsible for policing the vast majority of the capital and is geographically divided into 32 Borough Operational Command Units, the City of London Police which is responsible for The Square Mile of the City of London, and the British Transport Police which polices the rail network and London Underground.
Crime rates vary widely by area: several have problems with crime, while many others are very safe.
Since 1990 there has been an average of 171 murders committed each year across the 32 BOCUs in London. During this period the lowest annual figure was 89 in 2012 and the highest being 204 in the financial year 2003/04. Between 2003/04 and 2008/09 the number of annual homicides decreased by 27% from 204 to 148.
After further reductions, with a low of 83 in 2014, the number of recorded homicides in the London region has risen, with 130 recorded in the year ending September 2017, although this will include the combined nine deaths in the London bridge and Finsbury Park terror attacks.
