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164 muggings a day in London
By Hugh Dougherty, Home Affairs Correspondent, Evening Standard Last updated at 00:00am on 28.07.03The extent of street crime in London is revealed in new figures showing there are 164 muggings in the capital every day.
A report by independent watchdogs shows that, although street crime has come down from its record high levels of early 2002, it is still higher than at any other time in recent history.
It will say that the massive effort to reduce muggings and robberies, involving hundreds of thousands of hours of police time, has produced only a 15 per cent reduction in London.
Scotland Yard figures show that Lambeth is the worst of the 32 boroughs for street crime and that, per head of population, Richmond-is the least dangerous.
The full report - published tomorrow by Her Majesty's Inspectors of Constabulary, Probation and Prisons - is the first independent evaluation of the street crime initiative announced by Tony Blair and Home Secretary David Blunthem a valuable asset they can easily sell.
It is expected to show that the first six months of the police campaign against street crime - when officers got out of their cars and went on the beat in mugging hotspots - produced a steady fall to an average of 163 muggings a day. But there was a rise in the next six months, leading to the average for the year being 164.
The report will also warn that the clear-up rate for street crime is still too low. In London only 9.04 per cent of all street crimes were classified as "cleared-up" last year, far lower than the 14 per cent average for all crimes, but a rise from the 2001-2 figure of 8.7 per cent.
Fewer than one in 10 street robberies in London end with someone being charged or cautioned, the worst figure in the country. And, despite the rise in the clearup rate, the fall in numbers of street crimes meant fewer crimes were classifiedas cleared up and fewer muggers went to prison in 2002-3 than in 2001-2.
Scotland Yard figures show that, although street crime fell by 36 per cent in Lambeth from April last year to March 2003, residents stand a one in 51 chance of being mugged each year, compared with a one in 488 chance in Richmond.
Boroughs that were not part of the street crime initiative had much smaller falls in muggings - and in the case of Islington, Hammersmith and Fulham and Merton suffered increases.
Although the total fall in London was 15 per cent, Haringey, Ealing, Hillingdon, Havering, Wandsworth and Greenwich had falls in single figures, possibly because resources were concentrated on the worst affected areas, mainly Southwark, Lambeth, Westminster, Camden and Hackney, where falls ranged from 15 per cent to 36 per cent.
Reader views (6)
It is a sad indictment on modern societies that this crime is so prevalent in our country and indeed throughout the affluent western world in general.It has nothing to do with absolute poverrty,of course,and reflects the greed and weakness of people who suffer such a moral lapse that they would consider or attempt touse violence against their fellow humans.The university trained criminologists do not seem to have any viable plan to kerb it so i would make the following suggestions.
1. The offenders if under thirty should sent far away,preferably to the South Sandwich group of Islands in the South Atlantic where they would be employed rendering down the penguin blubber over boiling vats!After three years of this,along with compulsory trade training the offender would be repatriated to the u.k and if they stayed "clean" for a period equivalent to the length of the original sentence ,namely,three years their criminal record would be destroyed and forgotten.If the person re-offended he would be offered twenty years with the Army on the same conditions as the original punishment.Third choice would be a bullet through the head and good riddance!The state having bent over backwards to assist re-train and re-habiilitate the offender,I speak with experience as i am 66 years of age and have lived all over the world and i know human nature intimately.
thankyou for listening,
Robert Peckham
- Robert Peckham, EASTBOURNE UNITED KINGDOM, 03/04/2010 14:42
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I was mugged on the underground at London Bridge, they stole my money, my phone and my bag full of clothes as I was returning to London from back home over the Christmas holidays. The Police were comforting but that's about it. Nothing has been done about it since. It was down to me to deal with the situation on me own. Being only 20 years old I have to say I'm completely shaken every time I go through the station.
- Joshua, London Bridge, London, 04/02/2010 20:14
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I was mugged in Hampstead in feb 2007....they are still occuring in Hampstead. Also, a woman who is 8 months pregnant was punched,kicked and mugged while her toddler watched and screamed in the middle of the day in notting hill last week.
- Jill, hampstead,uk, 22/09/2009 01:27
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I was mugged by three men who punched me in the mouth and had my head banged onto my car repeatedly for 8 pounds in my purse - the police did not follow up for three days yet one of the attackers worked with bare hands and there would have been fingerprints - beyond crazy, beyond disappointing.
- Suki Dean, Camden, Camden London, 02/10/2008 04:28
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I work in a children's residential home and we know things are bad and getting worst. My partner and I have thought of an idea to reduce crime such as muggings, at the moment we are getting help on who to talk to and how do we go a head setting up our system, we think anything that help is a positive.
- Peter Barnes, surrey, 15/07/2008 14:22
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I was mugged in Mitcham Town Centre at 12.30 during the day, it was in the somerfield car park, dont remember much of what happen cause i was knocked out, just feel that women on there own should know not to go into this car park alone, I was hit over the head and been suffering every since. please do not go in these car parks alone
- Pamela Savage, Mitcham, 20/11/2006 15:28
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