Sharp rise in crime across Greenwich borough

This site doesn’t tend to cover crime a great deal, yet perusing what’s happening in Greenwich borough I discovered that crime is being discussed by Greenwich council tonight.

Looking at the financial year to  date (April 2017 to November 2017) compared to the previous year shows that:

• Weapon enabled crime is up 23.3%
• Sexual violence is up 27.3%
• Theft of a motor vehicle is up 14.9%
• Theft from a motor vehicle is up 5.1% (though 12.5% on the rolling 12 month figure)

On the bright side there are some reductions:

• Hate Crime is down 12.6%
• Anti-social behaviour is down 7.1%

However all figures fluctuate based on which measure is used. But the general picture painted isn’t very positive.

The figures come from the Violent and Organised Crime Unit, which is partly funded by Greenwich Council.

It shows Greenwich has 188 gang members being watched of which 64 are in custody. As a comparison, Southwark has 181 and and 58 in custody.

They have increased the number of arrests over last year.

Targeted areas

One operation named Bosworth looked into crime around hotspots such as Belmarsh Prison and Thislebrook site.

Another operation was centred around gangs in Barnfield estate.

There’s a big ding-dong in the media right now about who is to blame for cuts to policing in London.

Some London Tories are trying to lay the blame for cuts on Sadiq Khan yet most funding comes from central government who have cut funding by £600 million for the Met Police since 2010 whilst officer numbers have reduced from 32,000 to 30,000.

Another £400 million in cuts up to 2021 was likely until late last year. Central Government’s response has since been to tell local politicians to take more money through council tax – which is one of the most regressive ways to raise income.

It’s unlikely to make up all the shortfall but does deflect the argument away from central government.

I wrote yesterday about similar issues in the area of transport. Tories in London are blaming Khan for transport cuts due to his fare freeze which has strained income, whilst Labour point out that George Osborne cut £700 million from TfL’s budget in 2015 making London the only major world city with no assistance from central government (or state).

And worse, unlike most cities London’s ability to raise income locally is severely constrained by central government rules. Council tax is a pretty poor way to raise income yet other avenues open to Mayors in many cities around the world are blocked by the Treasury in the UK.

Any improvement may be some time in coming.

Photo courtesy: Jamie C2005 under Creative Commons 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)