Crime Manifesto: Making London Safer

We are lucky to live in the greatest city on earth. But after ten years of a Labour government, and eight years of a Labour Mayor, we need to stop kidding ourselves about crime.

We have a Home Secretary who says she is frightened to walk the streets of Peckham.

We have had 27 teenagers murdered by other kids in 2007. We have seen a steady and undisputed rise in robbery, violence against the person and other violent crimes.

And we all know that we are suffering from an epidemic of unreported crime.
Bitter experience has taught us that too often the police do not have the time or the resources to deal with our case.

So what can we do?

We could perhaps shrug our shoulders and say that crime, disorder and incivility are just a part of city life.

We could turn a blind eye to the robberies and the muggings, and hope that no one we love will be a victim.
We could throw up our hands, in the manner of the current Labour Mayor, and say that these problems are beyond our control - caused by television and the glamorising of violence.

We could accept defeat. We could declare that we have run out of ideas.

Or we could say that enough is enough.

The Mayor of London has a statutory and moral duty to lead the fight-back against crime.

I reject the fatalism and defeatism of the Labour Mayor. I reject the assumption that we can do nothing.

I believe that by systematically tackling small crimes we can drive out more serious crime.

I believe that we can change the lives of kids who would otherwise be sucked into a nightmarish culture of violence and criminality.
As soon as I become Mayor I will take action, and implement the following measures:

My Pledges

I will:

• Provide strong leadership
  By taking responsibility and chairing the Metropolitan Police Authority and using my influence to tear up red tape and needless form-filling, so we can get more police out on the streets.
• Make buses, trains and stations safer
  By spending less money on press officers and more money on police officers to increase their presence on buses, trains and station platforms.
  By introducing 'Payback London', a scheme that will require under 18s who abuse their right to free bus travel to earn it back through community service projects.
• Tackle knife and gun crimes
  By demanding they are treated as a high priority by the police, and using every strand of Mayoral power to prevent it through funding community groups, sports schemes and handheld weapon scanners.
• Help the ignored victims of sexual violence
  By providing desperately needed long-term funding for new Rape Crisis Centres to help the ignored victims of sexual violence - a horrendous crime that is on the increase.
• Demand a police service accountable to you
  By providing local communities with New York-style crime maps which show the true crime levels in every neighbourhood, which can then be used to ensure Borough Commanders are held to account at monthly open public meetings.

Click here to download the Crime Manifesto document (PDF)

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