Toby Harris - "Partnership across the capital: the only way to effectively combat crime"

74/02
12 July 2002

Toby Harris, Chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority, will stress to delegates at the Association of London Government London Summit tomorrow (Saturday 13 July 2002) that working together in partnership is the key to combating crime in the capital and making a real difference to the lives of London’s rich and diverse communities.

Outlining his belief that partnership is the principle way forward to ensure the shared objective of making London’s streets safer, Toby Harris will say:

“Last year the Metropolitan Police Service dealt with a staggering 1,057,360 notifiable offences – that’s 2,896 crimes a day and equates to two crimes committed every single minute. I quote these figures to illustrate the enormous task facing London’s law enforcement agencies.

“But the police should not be singled-out as the sole agency in the picture to turn the tide of criminality. Focusing on the consequences of crime without investing time and effort in tackling the symptoms is a shortsighted recipe for failure.

“Other agencies must take the necessary steps to complement the work of the police. For example, we need to pool our skills to look at the problems that lead the young people involved in the majority of crimes and address them through targeted youth services, educational and family support, diversionary schemes and the like.

“There is already much excellent partnership work going on. London’s Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships play an important and integral role in identifying crime hotspots and devising initiatives to tackle problems at the local level. Importantly they are themselves multi-agency in makeup, including police and local authorities. Under the police reform programme, police authorities will have a statutory role in working with Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships and we at the MPA are actively progressing our approach to this new approach.

“The work of Community and Police Consultative Groups, overseen by the MPA in London, has also helped bring partners together to tackle local crime and disorder problems.

“But partnership across London can be patchy and unstructured, leaving some areas vulnerable and stuck in a vicious circle of socially excluded communities, disaffected youngsters and crime hot spots that never seem to improve. It is up to us all to view working in partnership not just as an aspiration but a vital force to improve our society.

“People in London expect real and sustainable improvements and they expect all of us to work together to achieve real and lasting reductions in crime. We must acknowledge our common cause to work together in a focused and purposeful way to find the solutions that really work and last.

“We at the MPA have made a start to effect improvements and see through change, working closely with the police, communities, local authorities and numerous agencies and individuals. Without partnership and consultation we cannot hope to achieve the shared aim of the Authority and the Metropolitan Police Service – and many others here today - to make London the safest major city in the world.”

Notes to editors

1. Toby Harris will present his speech, “Combating Crime”, at 13:35 on Saturday 13 July 2002 to a session of the ALG London Summit “Delivering better services for London”. The all day conference is being held at the Queen Elisabeth II Conference center, London SW1.

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