Wandsworth Hit By Surge in Motor Vehicle Theft

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Latest figures show a 40% rise over the last year

The latest figures from the Metropolitan Police Service show crime is on the increase in Wandsworth borough with theft from motor vehicles seeing a large increase.

Total reported crime in Wandsworth has risen 6.4 per cent in the twelve months to March 2017, with 1185 more crimes than in the same period last year.

The latest crime figures show that drug related crimes have increased by 10.9% whereas violent crime has decreased by 1.2% and burglaries are down by 4 per cent.

Thefts have increased by 13.8% with thefts of motor vehicles up by 40% - the highest increase type of theft, and theft from motor vehicles still increasing by 27.4%. Whereas theft from a person is down by 3.3% ad theft of pedal bikes are also reduced by 1.8%.

The number of murders rose from two to five.

Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt, responsible for Territorial Policing, said: "London is one of the safest global cities in the world. There are few others with such low rates of serious crime, such as murder and gun crime".



There were 2,536 Stop & Searches carried out in the borough (graph above) - similar to the whole of London the majority were on males aged 15-19 years, unlike the whole force where the majority of those were white males, in Wandsworth the majority are on black males aged 15-19 years.

In London there were 2,071 Taser deployments, up 1.14% whereas in Wandsworth the deployments have reduced by 48% with only 71 deployments of which only 17 were fired.

Cllr Jonathan Cook, Wandsworth's community services spokesman said: “I very much welcome this drop in violent crime, burglaries, muggings and bag snatches and the obvious reduction in the number of our residents who have suffered from such distressing incidents, although regrettably there have been increases in other types of crime, mainly theft and vehicle crime. What this clearly demonstrates is the need for the police, the Mayor, local authorities and local communities to work closely together to eradicate all crime and anti-social behaviour.

“What it also demonstrates is the sheer folly of the Mayor ‘s decision to cut Wandsworth’s crime prevention budget by 51 per cent, coupled with his decision to strip Wandsworth of its own police commander and share this officer with three other London boroughs, making them much more remote and detached from the communities they serve.”

April 20, 2017