Personal Robbery in London has increased by 15 percent and domestic Burglary by 8.5 percent over the last twelve moths.
This London figures hides much greater increases in some boroughs.
Bexley a 59% increase in Robbery
Harrow has recorded a 40.8% increase in Robbery
Bromley 26% increase in Robbery
Kensington and Chelsea 20.1% increase in Robbery
Under any circumstances these sort of rises would be described as devastatingly bad. Interestingly the lowest increases have been in those areas of London usually regarded as crime hotspots for robbery, such as Lambeth (18.4% increase), Southwark (8.1% increase), Newham (3.5% increase) and Hackney (0.6% increase) recording relatively smaller rises.
Could it be that austerity measures are hitting hardest the safety of residents within those outer London boroughs that were most supportive of the coalition government and the current Mayor of London? Are the policies they have developed in relation to cutting police and downgrading the need for community safety performance now coming home to roost?
Possibly, but not entirely, there has been a general increase of around 100 additional robberies per borough across most of London. This equates to a massive percentage increase in historically low robbery boroughs like Bexley and Harrow but a small increase in higher robbery boroughs like Lambeth and Newham.
