London murder rate overtakes New York

Cliff

I've heard black parents who have lost their children say that stop and search has to be one of the measures to combat this. But, an important point was made by bl4ckGryph0n.
If the police resources were cut to zero, how many of us here would go out on a killing spree, just because we can?

Probably none of us.
It is not just a policing matter, but we are where we are, and there are already youths who think this is normal behaviour. The police are going to have to use harsher measures. Not talking about sentencing, because I doubt that works. It has to be measures like stop and search. Parts of the PC rule book will have to be torn up, unless we are prepared for the upward trend to continue, and accept this as normal???

Sonic67

There is no mystery as to the identity of these murderers, they are disaffected lowlifes playing out pathetic little gangsta fantasies.

Places aren't crime free because it’s crawling with the police, they are relatively crime free because it’s largely populated with people who aren’t violent sociopathic dickheads.

Put another load of coppers on the streets and they still wouldn't be around when you want one.

Khan blames the Tories.

Mayor blames police cuts for 'heartbreaking' surge in violent killings

"Since 2014 we have seen an increase in violent crime in London and across the country. "

domtheone

I think our masters are prepared to accept this as the norm (as long as it's not in their backyard - which it won't be).

Can hardly do anything these days without being branded a racist, bigot etc etc so next to nothing gets done.

domtheone

Khan playing the blame and bash the Tories again.  Never the criminals fault lol

rancidpunk

We wouldn't, but I don't think anyone would be foolish enough to suggest that there wouldn't be a huge rise in crime if all policing was stopped.

There just seems to be a denial that reducing numbers has had a negative effect, despite the amount of senior police figures warning us it would. Despite them still saying it. It's part of the problem.

As for the stop and search? Leaving aside the fact that the last major stop and search campaign was largely unsuccessful, we're now back to the numbers again. These crimes are across London, involving teenagers and adults. There's hardly any street police presence these days, nowhere near enough to tackle the numbers needed for results. Even if they were to target just black gangs they haven't got the manpower to make even a dent into the problem. There'll be hundreds of arrests needing to be processed for drug possession, public order offences and a few weapon seizures. That will need even more resources behind the scenes too. Numbers again.

If people look beyond the headlines and their dislike of everything Labour, they'll find that Abbott doesn't agree with random stop and search but thinks evidence based stop and search is something that does work. That again though goes back to needing numbers for community policing to gain the evidence needed for targeted searches. It seemed to work for NY and, I think, Glasgow so there's some mileage in it.

I just find it at odds when people say reducing police numbers has had no effect, but advocate random stop and search which would need an increase in police numbers.

Other than the people kill people mantra which a few keep saying, that gets us nowhere other than something we all know, what actual suggestions have we had for tackling the problem? Or, more to the point, what suggestions that won't involve increasing police numbers?

Cliff

I am not saying that, and we will have to increase police numbers if that is what it takes. But I am not convinced that the Mayor or anyone else has a proper plan to utilise the extra forces.
So many politicians are quick to point to cuts or the need to increase numbers because of their own failure so far.

Like a bad workman blaming his tools.

rancidpunk

He seems to have been making a start, before this was headline news. He really should have been banging that drum instead of trying to score political points and defending himself like he did yesterday.

We all know reduced numbers are never going to help, he just needs to stop going on and on about it and communicate the things already underway and those he plans to implement.

If he continues like yesterday, it won't take long before Londoners who have trusted him thus far quickly lose that belief.

domtheone

But we cut the police budget by 18% over 6 years and crime fell by 35%

rustybin

Which says it's more about our society and their behavior than just simply police numbers.

London is practically half a foreign state now isn't it?   Maybe we can draft in a load of police officers from all over the world to come over and sort their own out

EarthRod

Statistics. I could cut my food intake by 100% for a day or two and save money. How would that work out for me if I did it for a month?

I specifically mentioned the community services being cut and specifically said they'd have the long term impact. Especially on the social issues linked to the current current increase in City crime we appear to be seeing.

Although perhaps there won't be another stabbing all year so statistically this is just a blip.