PRESS RELEASE : Mayor joins local neighbourhood policing teams working to keep London’s communities safe [November 2022]

• Crime figures show knife crime, gun crime and teenage murders have reduced in the capital, but Mayor says still far too high
• Prevention and early intervention work led by the Mayor of London’s Violence Reduction Unit is making a difference alongside the Met’s priority to tackle violence
• Mayor and Met working together to suppress violence and make all of London’s communities safer
• Mayor repeats warning that the cost of living crisis could jeopardise progress made

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan and the Met’s head of Frontline Policing Assistant Commissioner Louisa Rolfe joined local neighbourhood police officers on patrol in Peckham Town Centre yesterday to see first-hand the work being done by the police around the clock to keep Londoners safe.

With the nights drawing in earlier, Town Centre, Neighbourhood, Response Teams officers and the City Hall funded Violent Crime Taskforce are working hard to suppress violence, take weapons off our street and engage with all of London’s communities to prevent and reduce crime.

The Met are targeting the most dangerous offenders, maximising diversion opportunities and increasing their presence through targeted patrols in key hotspots across London’s communities.

The renewed focus follows the pledge from the Mayor and Sir Mark Rowley to get the basics of policing right, and for officers to be in the right place at the right time when and where the public need them most.

As a result of the Mayor’s focus on tackling violent crime and its underlying causes, and the hard work of police officers and youth workers across the capital, the level of knife crime and violence in London has been decreasing since before the pandemic.1 But the Mayor believes violent crime is still far too high and warned in June that the cost of living crisis, which is impacting huge numbers of Londoners and some of the most vulnerable groups in our society, could jeopardise the progress that’s been made. 3

London’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) is leading a partnership approach to tackling violence that is rooted in prevention and early intervention. This year, with support from the Mayor, the VRU is investing in positive opportunities for 70,000 young Londoners.

With hundreds of thousands of Londoners being impacted by the cost-of-living crisis and low-income families in the capital being hit hardest as food and energy bills soar, the Mayor is determined to work with the Met and partners to keep everyone safe.

With a record 34,542 officers, both the Met and City Hall are committed to doing everything possible to restore trust and confidence in the police, improve the support for victims of crime, and build on the success made in driving down violence and crime in our city to build a safer London for everyone.

The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, said: “Tackling violence is my top priority and I’m determined to continue leading from the front in London by being tough on crime and tough on its complex causes.

“Record investment from City Hall in the Met and London’s Violence Reduction Unit has meant violence in the capital has reduced since 2016, with knife crime, gun crime, burglary and teenage homicides all falling – bucking the national trend. But more must be done. It’s clear the level of violence in London remains far too high and I remain very concerned that the cost of living crisis could jeopardise the progress we’ve made.

“That’s why I am continuing to take action by supporting our hardworking police officers to keep our city safe and investing record amounts in initiatives through London’s Violence Reduction Unit to support young Londoners at critical stages in their lives.

“The officers I’ve been out with today are part of 650 Town Centre and Safer Neighbourhood police officers directly funded by City Hall to take weapons off our streets, drive down violence and be there when the public needs them most so we can build a safer London for everyone.”

Assistant Commissioner Louisa Rolfe, said: “We are working every day to fight and bring down crime. Tackling violence is a team effort and our work with the Mayor of London’s Violence Reduction Unit is crucial to this.

“Our role as police is to work alongside communities and partners and understand what affects them most. We are also using data in new ways to ensure we are in the right place to protect those most in need, and we are going after offenders, including men who commit violence in the home and on the streets.

“All this is part of regaining and earning trust and having a visible presence in areas with higher levels of violence is also what Londoners rightly expect of us. By doing this work, we are building on our relationships with communities and ensuring our neighbourhood policing provides the quality service people deserve.

“We are clear that we are proactively and forensically targeting the drivers of violent crime, and this week, specialist teams have been tackling high-harm offenders involved in supplying drugs across London, including in Southwark. This builds on the success of the Met’s county lines response and is aimed at dismantling intra-London class A drug lines. This way of working brings together the skills and experience of Specialist Crime officers with the knowledge and expertise of local officers.

“Our job is to make it harder for violent and predatory people, drug dealers, criminals and those involved in organised crime to operate.

“We are also clear that violent crime cannot be solved by policing alone and everyone in the community can play a part.”