London worse for crime than New York

LONDON is more crime-ridden and dangerous than New York, with rape, robbery and violent offences far higher on this side of the Atlantic.

Statistics published this week reveal that crime across the UK is up by 13 per cent, with a surge in violence in the capital blamed for much of the increase. Seizing on the figures, Donald Trump, the US president, linked the rise to the “spread of radical Islam” and said it demonstrated the need to “keep America safe”.

Ed Miliband, the former Labour leader, last night called Mr Trump an “absolute moron” as critics dismissed the president’s comments as “ignorant” and “divisive”.

Mr Miliband wrote on Twitter: “Spreading lies about your own country: sad. Spreading lies about others: sadder. What an absolute moron.” Criminal justice experts insisted that rising crime in the UK, and particularly London, was more to do with the way the city was policed and blamed the loss of neighbourhood patrols across parts of the capital.

London and New York both have populations of around eight million,

but figures suggest a person is almost six times more likely to be burgled in London than in the US city, and more likely to fall victim to robbery. London has three times the number of reported rapes and although the murder rate in New York remains higher, the gap is narrowing.

The change in fortunes of the two global cities has been put down to the difference in police tactics. Scotland Yard and the New York City Police Department (NYPD) each have 30,000 officers and budgets of around £3 billion, though some offences in New York come under the umbrella of the FBI.

Spiralling crime rates in New York in the Nineties resulted in Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s zero tolerance policy. It put emphasis on community policing in order to build trust between police and public. Murder rates plummeted from a high in 1990 of more than 2,000 to a record low of 335 last year and are expected to fall further this year to below 240. The last decade has seen London police turn the focus from neighbourhood policing to serious offences. Last week it emerged that Scotland Yard would no longer bother investigating low level offences to cut costs. However, the latest statistics may put pressure on Metropolitan Police bosses to reassess their priorities.