London’s mayor Sadiq Khan has announced a plan to invest £8.5 million to tackle violence across the capital and raise standards in the Met Police.
His announcement comes after 16 people were stabbed and one shot dead in the city in the last five days.
The funding is aimed at tackling drug supply lines, training the Met’s leaders and line managers and the mayor’s violence prevention efforts.
Out of the total investment plan, £2.25m will be used to address drug-related crime and safeguard young Londoners from being exploited by drug gangs.
Some £3.3m is proposed to be used to support the Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley’s drive for higher standards in the largest police force of the UK.
Khan’s announcement follows a package of new funding for policing announced by the mayor last month as part of his draft budget.
He said he was committed to doing everything to tackle violent crime and making London safer as there had been “real progress” with serious violence coming down the capital since 2016.
“There is much more to do,” the two-time mayor said, insisting the safety of Londoners “is my top priority”.
“This funding is another example of my commitment to building a safer London for everyone,” Khan said.
Sir Rowley said murders in London were down by 17 per cent last year, with 111 deaths compared to 131 in 2021. The number of teenage murder victims halved in the city in 2022 compared to the figure a year earlier.
Despite a rise in the population, the murder rate came down by half in 2022 from a record high of 222 murders in 2003, he noted.
“We have already made great progress closing in on London’s worst and most prolific offenders” as the force was finding new ways to tackle violence, the Met commissioner said.
