London Mayor Sadiq Khan pumps additional £50m into fighting crime as knife and gun incidents across capital start to fall
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, announced this morning an additional £50m will be reserved to tackle crime across the capital.
The investment, which will run over the next three years, will fund grassroots crime prevention projects across the city and promote positive opportunities for Londoners in every borough in the capital through the London Crime Prevention Fund, Khan’s office clarified.
It will see £39m distributed between all 32 London boroughs and £9.8m awarded to projects already funded by the Mayor which will work with the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) to tackle criminal activity.
“The funding will empower local authorities to tackle violence in their area, reduce offending in their communities and support victims locally,” the Mayor said in a statement.
Reduction in crime
Alongside the announcement, Khan presented new analysis from City Hall, which showed that all types of serious violence experienced by young people have fallen over the last four years.
Figures show that violence was falling in London before the pandemic, and over the past year knife crime, youth violence and gun crime have come down further.
The research shows that serious crimes such as knife crime resulting in injury is down 36 per cent and under-25 knife crime has reduced 48 per cent, compared to the peak in the twelve months to December 2017.
Khan said: “We know the challenges of the pandemic have exacerbated the causes of crime and violence and that’s why this investment is so important and so timely.”
“This new funding package of almost £50m will provide dedicated funding for local authorities now and allow them to work together to tackle complex problems across borough boundaries and support local communities to tackle violence and reduce offending where they are,” he added.