Tackling violent crime: A snapshot of the Met's work

I have used this platform to explain what I stand for as Commissioner. Last month, I also shared how we have launched the first draft of a Turnaround plan outlining how the Met will renew policing by consent and deliver More Trust, Less Crime and High Standards.

It is also important that we zoom in occasionally and look at the detail. Crime in London presents varied challenges, and we never stop.

We are tracking how crime in London changes and evolves every day. As your Commissioner, I want to offer you a snapshot of one aspect of crime in your city - so you can see how we are making great strides, and where we are focusing to improve.

This week the Mayor announced additional funding of £8.5 million that will help us with tackling violence, so I thought I’d start on the same subject:

Serious violence is thankfully rare in London when compared to similar big, global cities, but until it becomes a distant memory there is more to do. The good news is, we are bucking the national trend here. In 2022, the number of murders in the capital was down by 17% on the previous year – a fantastic result driven by the dedicated efforts of our officers throughout the city.

Numbers only tell half the story. Behind every headline is a victim who has lost their life and behind them a family dealing with unimaginable pain and suffering.

There is always more to do here, but it is important you see just how much we are bearing down on violent offenders in London. Just in the last week, we made impact by keeping firearms off the streets. We:

• recovered and made safe five firearms, that could have been used to harm or murder have been recovered this week
• brought to justice six defendants, some who were known gang offenders - convicted and sentenced because of their links to three firearms recovered in South London
• charged seven more with offences relating to possession of firearms
• successfully deployed on a gang related kidnap, recovering the hostage and making sure the suspects were in custody

In addition, we are going after the men who are behind drugs, and so-called ‘County Lines’, because we know that nine out of 10 of them have previous involvement in violent crime. As part of our targeted work here, in the last seven days we have closed 13 more lines and charged 14 offenders.

Violent crime impacts business too, holding back our growth and prosperity. This week we have brought two convictions for weapon enabled robbery on commercial premises.

In today’s snapshot I have just focused on violence specifically relating to gangs, organised crime and incidents where criminals are looking to steal, or ‘acquire’ as we saw when we record these crimes.

It is important that you see and understand how hard we are working to fight crime in London.

This week we have also let you know about how officers from our Specialist Crime Command arrested 18 people following an investigation targeting an organised crime gang, believed to be responsible for £1.5 million in stolen motor vehicles.

We shared how a group of men who committed a series of terrifying knifepoint robberies in south west London have been convicted following a joint operation by the Flying Squad and a local robbery team.

As well as wanting to be honest about where we can do better at the Met, we will also highlight when we effectively fight crime, both are part of our journey to bring more confidence and trust in the Met.

I want you to know we are not complacent. Robberies in London, where violence or the threat of violence is used has increased from the lows we saw during the covid pandemic and we want to reverse that trend.

This week we have made 130 arrests for robbery, 13 have been charged immediately solving 28 crimes. You can expect more results as we turn the tide on robbery over forthcoming weeks. 

I hope this has proved insightful as the first of a series of posts I would like to do to share how we are working hard to deliver More Trust, Less Crime and High Standards for you, for Londoners.