Sir Mark Rowley: London is 'fantastically safe'

The comments come after the force announced that there had been a drop in homicide rates across the region last year. 

The head of Britain’s most prominent police force said the capital is a place to “live, work and enjoy yourself” as he visited a boxing gym in Ilford, east London, on Thursday.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan joined the commissioner as they met Box Up Crime founder Stephen Addison, who set up the club to provide vulnerable young people with a community and a path away from crime.

Yesterday I joined Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley and Safer Neighbourhood team officers on patrol in Ilford Town Centre. I was pleased to see first-hand the work officers have been doing to keep Londoners, and particularly young people, safe in the busy after school period. pic.twitter.com/PUWMXREE9b

— Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan (@MayorofLondon) January 6, 2023

The visit comes as the force promised that it was cracking down on offences targeting youngsters, releasing figures which showed the number of teenage killings halved in 2022.

Sir Mark said: “London is a fantastically safe global city. Of course no city’s perfect, but if you look at crime rates… it’s a safe place to live and work and enjoy yourself.”

The commissioner was also pressed on his plan to root out criminal behaviour within the Met after a string of high-profile convictions of officers for serious offences.

He added: "I have got tens of thousands of men and women who are fantastic people, who care and want to make a difference.

“Sadly I’ve got hundreds I need to sort out and who shouldn’t be in the organisation and as we do that you’ll hear more.

“But I’ve got many, many more people who care about Londoners than some of those awful individuals that should never have been police officers.”

The Met has vowed to increase high-visibility patrols and boost community policing focused on preventing robbery after recent figures from Ilford showed 36% of mugging victims were aged 18 or younger.

It said there had been 71 arrests for robbery since November.

The total number of homicides recorded under Home Office Counting Rules (HOCR) for 2022 is 109, which is 17% down on 2021, the Met said.

Nine homicides were gun enabled in 2022, which was a 25% fall and the lowest figure since 2014.

A total of 69 homicides were knife enabled, which was a 17% reduction and equal to the pre-pandemic figure for 2019.