‘The streets are lost’ Ex-cop warns London knife and gun crime will ‘inevitably get WORSE’

Saturday, June 9, 2018
By Paul Martin

THE SHOCKING spike in knife and gun crime across London is “inevitably going to get worse” unless more police are deployed to keep the streets safe, a former cop has warned.

By Joshua Nevett
DailyStar.co.uk
9th June 2018

London is facing an alarming rise in serious crime leaving police, the government and mayor Sadiq Khan desperately seeking answers to control the spate of violent episodes.

A recent spree of gun and knife attacks, including the gunning down of Oluwafemi Omosuyi, 22, in Peckham and the stabbing of a mum and her one-year-old baby boy in Feltham, the have horrified the city.

An estimated 59 people have been murdered on the streets of the capital between January 2018 and April 2018, latest statistics from the Metropolitan Police show.

Between April 2017 and March 2018, figures show the murder rate increased by 44%, knife crimes 21% and shooting incidents 23%, raising serious concerns about how to tackle violence on the streets of London.

Peter Kirkham, a retired Metropolitan Police officer of 20 years, told Daily Star Online the lack of “bobbies on the beat” is one of the leading reasons knife and gun crime is rising.

The troubling statistics show “the streets have been lost” to criminals, who are carrying knives and firearms with impunity, the former Scotland Yard detective said.

“As far as the bad guys are concerned, the streets are now theirs,” he told Daily Star Online.

“Not routine police patrols keeping public spaces safe.

“It’s not because the police don’t want to do that, but because there are insufficient police to do that.”

Mr Kirkham, a chief inspector between 1981 and 2002, blamed government cuts to the Metropolitan Police overseen by Prime Minister Theresa May and her predecessors for the increase in crime in the capital.

Budget pressure and rising costs mean the Met Police needs to make more than £400million of savings by 2020-21, according to a report by the Mayor of London’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC).

In January, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan told the Budget and Performance Committee that government funding for the Met Police had fallen by more than £700 million in real terms since2010/11.

Met Police Commissioner, Cressida Dick, has also repeatedly warned that cuts will make it harder for officers to tackle violent crime on the streets.

In response, the Conservative Party claims the Met is receiving an extra £144million over the next five years to increase armed policing and counter-terror staffing.

But Mr Kirkham said the focus on terrorism has put an unprecedented strain on police resources and distracted attention away from tackling knife and gun crime.

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