The Cost of Crime in London

A new study by the TaxPayers’ Alliance has discovered that the cost of crime in London in 2006-07 was a staggering £3 billion, equivalent to £400 for every person in London. Using Home Office calculations to take into account the economic and social cost of various types of crime, TPA researchers were able to provide an in-depth breakdown of the cost of different types of crime borough-by-borough.

Using the estimated costs of different types of crime gives an appropriate weighting to crimes such as violent or sexual offences that are more serious and more worrying to the public than petty theft from a shop.

The report reveals a wide inequality in the cost of crime among different boroughs, ranging from Westminster (£154.8m, or £620 per capita) and Islington (£109m, or £590 per head) to Harrow (£50m, or £235 per head) and Richmond (£39, or £215 per head).

Download the full report (PDF)

Matthew Sinclair, Policy Analyst at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said:

"Ordinary Londoners, particularly those in the poorest boroughs, pay the price for high crime rates every day. Whether we have been victims of crime, are afraid to go out at night or are just paying ever more to protect and insure ourselves, crime has big economic, emotional and human costs for us all. We urgently need politicians to end the excuses, show real civic leadership and enable the police to take action and replicate the radical reductions in crime seen in other cities such as New York."

Matthew Elliott, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said:

“Crime is set to be the big issue in the Mayoral elections. Londoners are looking for a Mayor who will tackle the crime epidemic in the Capital. The Government should devolve full powers over the Metropolitan Police to City Hall so whoever is Mayor after May 1st has the power to sort out this menace.”

Comments

[Richard de Gerber]

when you keep importing poverty onto our streets, failing to enforce the law at all levels and letting people use their rights but failing to ensure they act in a responsible manner then it is no wonder the UK and London to a greater extent is a broken society. Livingston panders to the groups that many of us feel need to receive special attention from the law, rather than hand outs! Livingston and Sir Iain Blair are the main reason the police cannot keep us safe in London, until both are removed from their well paid jobs then Londoners will continue to pay a high price to live in the capital. The new mayor will face a massive task after Livingston has been removed, lets hope he can turn things round rapidly before more kids are killed and more people leave London/UK for good!

[Andrew S. Reed]

I sympathise with the view that the incumbent Mayor must be removed at any cost; but I do not share it, even though my opinion of that man could hardly be lower.

This is because the framework, within which the mayoralty operates, is an EU-construct, which is supported by the parties of both the likely winners.

Lurching from one of these parties to the other will not address this fundamental problem. In some ways, the worse candidate is actually better, because he demonstrates the repellent nature of this EU-framework without shame or concealment.

The only vote that realy counts is for UKIP - the only party committed to replacing EU-strictures with democratic accountability.