Police have this week claimed phenomenal success in their fight against street crime and assured Sutton residents that street robbery here is rare.

But in a frank admission

Suttons top police chief said it will be impossible to rid the streets of youth on youth

mobile phone thefts which form a large part of the crime figures with policing alone.

Even with detectives and

police officers visiting schools, the free marking of phones and new Met-wide strategies, without wider support a crackdown will be impossible, warned Chief Superintendent Steve MacDonald.

We will never solve the situation through policing alone, he said. But we might achieve it technically with the help of the phone companies and the education system.

Despite this, figures for April and May this year suggest Sutton appears to be hanging on to its reputation as one of the least crime-ridden boroughs in London.

With just over one mugging every day on average, Sutton is the fourth most crime-free borough in London after Richmond upon Thames, Belgravia and Kingston upon Thames.

Its ranking in the borough by borough crime leagues has largely remained static while street crime across all boroughs has soared in recent years.

But Suttons force of 157

constables is hailing its biggest recent success as smashing Metropolitan Police targets for nailing the crooks behind the crimes.

Chief Supt MacDonald said a 19.5 per cent rate for dealing with criminals either in the courts or at the station was phenomenal and well above the Met target of 10 per cent.

My officers have been working all the hours available to try to make sure everyone who could be nicked and charged, have been.

People in Sutton should have very little concern they will become victims of street crime. The reality in Sutton is that street robbery is a rare event and we are still looking at perhaps one a day on average, he said.

Their next target is to knock Lewisham off the number one slot for so-called judicial disposals.

By.Marie Jackson