Sutton has strengthened its position as one of London's lowest crime boroughs with the latest figures showing more than 1,000 fewer victims of crime over the last four years in the seven priority crime categories set by the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (known as the MOPAC 7).
The statistics show a fall in the total number of MOPAC 7 offences from 6,210 to 5,125 offences since 2011/12 - a reduction of 17.5%.
Crime reductions in Sutton were achieved in the following categories:
- robbery: down 52.7% (from 319 to 151)
- theft from motor vehicle: down 41.6% (from 1,264 to 738)
- burglary: down 20.3% (from 1,559 to 1,243)
- criminal damage: down 17.3% (from 1,621 to 1,341)
- theft from person: down 12.8% (from 180 to 157)
- theft of motor vehicle: down 8.6% (from 278 to 254)
The only MOPAC 7 crime category that has gone up is violence with injury which has risen by 25.5% (from 989 to 1,241).
All these Met Police statistics for the MOPAC 7 crime categories, which were chosen for their high volume and high levels of victimisation, are based on the reporting period ending Monday, 18 April 2016.
Det Supt Fran Smith, who is acting Sutton Borough Commander, said the results had been achieved through targeting police resources at where they were most needed and robust policing of offenders. She believed it was also due to residents' willingness to continue to support police through securing their homes, property marking their valuables, calling police when a crime was being committed or someone was acting suspiciously, and joining groups like Neighbourhood Watch, which has more than 5,000 members across the borough.
Police are continuing to tackle violence with injury, which includes domestic violence, which accounts for around 40% of this type of crime. Violence with injury has risen across London, although some of this increase can be attributed to more accurate recording of individual offences (see Editor's note below). To combat violent crime, officers are now equipped with body worn cameras to help gather evidence and are working with partner organisations to intervene early before issues escalate into violence. Officers are also working closely with licensed premises, including pubs, clubs and bars to brief door staff and have good quality CCTV systems and other security.
Det Supt Smith said: "These are excellent results for our local residents and communities especially as these figures are based on levels of crime that were already low in a borough that is a low crime borough and one of the safest in London.
"Research shows that our residents' primary consideration is being safe and we want residents to have the very best service from us.
"We will be continuing to police robustly and bring offenders to justice whilst working to encourage local residents to call us on 999 if they see a crime being committed or someone acting suspiciously. We would much rather come out and check that everything is OK, than to find later that someone has become a victim of crime."
Note
Reported violent crime increase: The Office for National Statistics recognises this is due significantly to improvements in crime recording, rather than levels of crime, following a Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) inspection found there were significant issues with the quality of crime recording in police forces across England and Wales.
Crime reductions in Sutton were achieved in the following categories:
- robbery: down 52.7% (from 319 to 151)
- theft from motor vehicle: down 41.6% (from 1,264 to 738)
- burglary: down 20.3% (from 1,559 to 1,243)
- criminal damage: down 17.3% (from 1,621 to 1,341)
- theft from person: down 12.8% (from 180 to 157)
- theft of motor vehicle: down 8.6% (from 278 to 254)
The only MOPAC 7 crime category that has gone up is violence with injury which has risen by 25.5% (from 989 to 1,241).
All these Met Police statistics for the MOPAC 7 crime categories, which were chosen for their high volume and high levels of victimisation, are based on the reporting period ending Monday, 18 April 2016.
Det Supt Fran Smith, who is acting Sutton Borough Commander, said the results had been achieved through targeting police resources at where they were most needed and robust policing of offenders. She believed it was also due to residents' willingness to continue to support police through securing their homes, property marking their valuables, calling police when a crime was being committed or someone was acting suspiciously, and joining groups like Neighbourhood Watch, which has more than 5,000 members across the borough.
Police are continuing to tackle violence with injury, which includes domestic violence, which accounts for around 40% of this type of crime. Violence with injury has risen across London, although some of this increase can be attributed to more accurate recording of individual offences (see Editor's note below). To combat violent crime, officers are now equipped with body worn cameras to help gather evidence and are working with partner organisations to intervene early before issues escalate into violence. Officers are also working closely with licensed premises, including pubs, clubs and bars to brief door staff and have good quality CCTV systems and other security.
Det Supt Smith said: "These are excellent results for our local residents and communities especially as these figures are based on levels of crime that were already low in a borough that is a low crime borough and one of the safest in London.
"Research shows that our residents' primary consideration is being safe and we want residents to have the very best service from us.
"We will be continuing to police robustly and bring offenders to justice whilst working to encourage local residents to call us on 999 if they see a crime being committed or someone acting suspiciously. We would much rather come out and check that everything is OK, than to find later that someone has become a victim of crime."
Note
Reported violent crime increase: The Office for National Statistics recognises this is due significantly to improvements in crime recording, rather than levels of crime, following a Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) inspection found there were significant issues with the quality of crime recording in police forces across England and Wales.