letter for publication Moped crime
Dear editor,
As a member of the Police and Crime Committee at City Hall I have regularly highlighted the rise in moped enabled crime, and have questioned the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan about this growing threat. (Call for action over Moped Crime Spree, Ham and High, 4th May)
From a criminal’s ‘cost benefit analysis’ of the risks of being caught as against the rewards of stealing high value objects like smartphones, it looks a good bet with only 1 in 75 moped enabled thefts resulting in a serious pursuit, let alone an arrest.
However, with £600 million of Conservative Government cuts from the Met budget already, and £400 million of Government cuts still to come, amounting to a total of a third of the entire Metropolitan Police budget, I am concerned that there are ever fewer resources to tackle this frightening crime which is becoming ever more prevalent – and now we see accompanied by violence in a number of incidents, too.
I hope Camden residents will ask their candidates in the 8th June General Election on whether they support or oppose these cuts, to see who is serious about tacking moped crime.
Andrew Dismore AM
Labour London Assembly Member for Barnet and Camden
