Neighbourhood policing for all and better support for victims at heart of new proposals
Plan includes knife-crime crackdown and overhaul of child protection in capital
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, today invited all Londoners to have their say on his new draft police and crime plan which aims to restore real neighbourhood policing for everyone and commits to protecting the most vulnerable.
The draft plan includes measures to crack down on knife crime, improve services for victims of crime and overhaul child protection in the capital.
Sadiq Khan is committed to ending the postcode lottery in public safety, which means some people and places are more vulnerable to, and fearful of, crime than others. This means ensuring the police focus on tackling problems of most pressing local concern - while maintaining a consistently high standard of service for all Londoners.
As well as improving the standards of policing and criminal justice in London, the Mayor has identified three new London-wide priorities: keeping children and young people safe; tackling violence against women and girls; and standing together against extremism, hatred and intolerance.
Core elements of the Mayor’s police and crime strategy include:
• A return to real neighbourhood policing – the Mayor will end the crude and inflexible ‘MOPAC 7’ targets introduced by his predecessor, heavily criticised by the recent HMIC report on child protection, and will agree annual crime and policing priorities at a local level. The plan also confirms the Mayor’s commitment to restoring real neighbourhood policing with two dedicated neighbourhood officers in every London neighbourhood by the end of 2017.
• Improved standards across policing and criminal justice - City Hall will agree shared goals for criminal justice agencies and hold those agencies to account for delivering them, driving up the quality of service that victims and witnesses can expect.
• Improving services for victims of crime – the Mayor will appoint an independent Victims"" Commissioner to promote victims"" interests within London, and roll out victim-centred restorative justice – helping to rehabilitate offenders and cutting crime through reconciliation with victims and the wider community.
• Urgently addressing knife crime – the plan confirms the Mayor’s commitment to reducing knife-related crime in the capital, with better prevention and enforcement against selling and carrying knives. A new knife crime strategy will be published, and the Mayor will also review the Met’s approach to gang crime.
• Protecting children and young people – the Mayor will commission two Child Houses – a one-stop shop for young victims to report sexual abuse and receive long-term support - and overhaul child protection across the capital with the help of national experts.
• Tackling domestic violence and violence against women and girls – increasing our support for victims in reporting these distressing crimes, alongside more work on prevention and bringing more perpetrators to justice.
• Hate Crime and radicalisation – the Mayor will launch an online hate crime hub and roll out Hate Crime Victims’ Advocates across the city, whilst stepping up efforts to counter radicalisation in schools and online as well as action against perpetrators.
• Devolution of the criminal justice system – the Mayor will press for responsibilities for youth justice, offender management and the courts to be devolved from central government to City Hall to enable a more joined-up approach in tackling the causes of crime.
• A police force that reflects London""s diversity – the Mayor will do everything possible to encourage more women, and BAME Londoners, to join the police service and represent the Londoners they work on behalf of.
Today, the Mayor joined young Londoners in an interactive session run by the charity Safer London, which is funded by the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC), to work with youngsters affected by violence and crime. He called on Londoners to feed into the public consultation which begins today and runs until 23rd February.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “Keeping Londoners safe is my first priority, and thanks to the dedication of our police officers and staff across the capital, our city is one of the safest in the world. But I want it to be even safer, and this draft plan aims to build trust and confidence in policing and criminal justice for everyone. We want to restore real neighbourhood policing and make sure local priorities reflect local concerns. Most importantly, this plan signals a step change in efforts to protect the most vulnerable Londoners, and I want to encourage everyone to feed into our public consultation and help us make sure we are providing for them.”
The Mayor will continue to support Met officers at every level, as well as Transport for London, British Transport Police, City of London police, criminal justice partners, charities and community groups to deliver his plans.
The Met Police Commissioner, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, said: "This Police and Crime Plan sets some tough challenges to meet the ever changing nature of a major capital city. To achieve these, at a time when we continue to have to make major financial savings, the Met will need to change the way it recruits, operates, and evolves. These changes will touch every element of our organisation, making us more diverse, more efficient, and in short - the best police service possible for the next 4 years. We would encourage all Londoners to take part in this consultation into the Mayor""s plans, and help to shape our police service for the future in the most diverse capital in the world."
Safer London Chief Executive, Claire Hubberstey, said: “We are delighted that the Mayor of London is committing to making the voices of Londoners heard. Empowering young people and involving them in everything we do is central to our ethos as a charity: this morning’s visit has allowed us to give young people the opportunity to voice their opinions to the Mayor directly, and ensure that their contributions are valued. The Mayor’s priorities for London chime with Safer London’s values. We also know that young people experiencing issues such as sexual exploitation or knife crime need tailored, victim-centred support, and I look forward to working with the Mayor to ensure that the delivery of the police and crime plan keeps Londoners and their safety at heart.”
The Mayor’s draft police and crime plan builds on the responses to his recent Talk London survey which was completed by almost 8,000 Londoners. Around 90 per cent of respondents agree that some communities are more likely to experience crime than others, and would like the Mayor to address this disparity. Seventy per cent of respondents wanted to have more say in local neighbourhood policing.