This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/davehillblog/2014/sep/04/can-we-believe-a-single-claim-made-about-london
The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Can we believe a single claim made about London crime? | Can we believe a single claim made about London crime? |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Scotland Yard is up for sale for £250m and it’s really, really great. That is because, according to the mayor’s exploding policing deputy, the proceeds will go towards getting “cutting edge technology” in the hands of officers on the “frontline” of the battle against crime. Phwoar! Behold the brilliance with which “commonsense” Conservatives can deliver cuts in police service costs and cuts in crime at the same time. | Scotland Yard is up for sale for £250m and it’s really, really great. That is because, according to the mayor’s exploding policing deputy, the proceeds will go towards getting “cutting edge technology” in the hands of officers on the “frontline” of the battle against crime. Phwoar! Behold the brilliance with which “commonsense” Conservatives can deliver cuts in police service costs and cuts in crime at the same time. |
| Where shall we begin? How about with Johnson’s 2008 election manifesto claim that “we need to stop kidding ourselves about crime” and that “we all know that we are suffering an epidemic of unreported crime”. We Londoners had been taught by “bitter experience”, he continued, “that too often the police do not have the time or the resources to deal with our case”. He issued a stout rallying cry: “We could accept defeat. We could declare that we have run out of ideas. Or we could say that enough is enough”. | Where shall we begin? How about with Johnson’s 2008 election manifesto claim that “we need to stop kidding ourselves about crime” and that “we all know that we are suffering an epidemic of unreported crime”. We Londoners had been taught by “bitter experience”, he continued, “that too often the police do not have the time or the resources to deal with our case”. He issued a stout rallying cry: “We could accept defeat. We could declare that we have run out of ideas. Or we could say that enough is enough”. |
| Presumably the “epidemic” of non-reporting referred to has been completely cured, given Johnson’s persistent brandishing of police crime stats to proclaim the difference he has made - crime in London has fallen by 11% since he was first elected, it says here. The end of the “epidemic” can be dated from as early as October 2008, when, on a visit to Bexleyheath police station, the mayor, just six months into his first term, made large assertions about the effect of pilot schemes to address bus-related offending (these, by the way, had been introduced by his predecessor). | |
| But what if mass non-reporting of crime not only existed as Johnson asserted but hasn’t, in fact, gone away? And here’s something else to ponder. A new report from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) saying that many high volume offences that actually are reported to police services in England and Wales are never really looked into by them chimes with the recent discovery by Conservative AM Victoria Borwick that 73% of reported thefts in London aren’t investigated by the Met, along with 37% of reports of fraud and forgery, 26% of burglary and 11% of robbery. | But what if mass non-reporting of crime not only existed as Johnson asserted but hasn’t, in fact, gone away? And here’s something else to ponder. A new report from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) saying that many high volume offences that actually are reported to police services in England and Wales are never really looked into by them chimes with the recent discovery by Conservative AM Victoria Borwick that 73% of reported thefts in London aren’t investigated by the Met, along with 37% of reports of fraud and forgery, 26% of burglary and 11% of robbery. |
| One conclusion to draw from all of this is that if the Met had a confidence tricks unit Johnson’s entire mayoralty would be under arrest (along with most of the media, on suspicion of aiding and abetting). Yet much the same could be said of lots of other politicians from all the larger parties - talking cobblers about crime often seems to be in the job description. | One conclusion to draw from all of this is that if the Met had a confidence tricks unit Johnson’s entire mayoralty would be under arrest (along with most of the media, on suspicion of aiding and abetting). Yet much the same could be said of lots of other politicians from all the larger parties - talking cobblers about crime often seems to be in the job description. |
| Also, whilst the “screening out” stats obtained by Borwick are startling, she herself rightly acknowledges that the Met has to set priorities. And, no doubt, it has long had to assess which categories of crime and which reports by the public of individual ones merit the most (if any) attention, and deployed resources accordingly. Sergeant Dixon himself would have had to make such judgements, many of them very difficult. | Also, whilst the “screening out” stats obtained by Borwick are startling, she herself rightly acknowledges that the Met has to set priorities. And, no doubt, it has long had to assess which categories of crime and which reports by the public of individual ones merit the most (if any) attention, and deployed resources accordingly. Sergeant Dixon himself would have had to make such judgements, many of them very difficult. |
| All that said, it would be nice to feel a bit more faith in the credibility of mayoral claims on crime. Johnson is, after all, Londoners’ elected police and crime commissioner, mandated to insist that our cops do the best job possible on our behalf. But, as so often with this mayor, you sense that his priorities lie elsewhere. | All that said, it would be nice to feel a bit more faith in the credibility of mayoral claims on crime. Johnson is, after all, Londoners’ elected police and crime commissioner, mandated to insist that our cops do the best job possible on our behalf. But, as so often with this mayor, you sense that his priorities lie elsewhere. |