'14 dead and it's only May', Nick Ferrari grills Met Police Commissioner on violent crime

14 May 2021, 11:31 | Updated: 14 May 2021, 11:40

Nick Ferrari grills Dame Cressida Dick on violent crime

The Metropolitan Police Commissioner has told LBC there have been 'successes' in tackling the crimes which lead to homicide.

Speaking to LBC's Nick Ferrari on her regular Call the Commissioner show, Dame Cressida Dick acknowledged "it's horrific that we have had teenagers killed in the way we have earlier this year.

"If you look at stabbings of people under 25, which is the core category of people who get stabbed, we've had reductions in the last three years."

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The Commissioner said that since January, there have been 21 people under the age of 25 killed in London.

Met Police Data shows there have been 35 homicides in the capital so far this year. Last year, 14 teenagers were stabbed in London, a decrease on the 24 who were murdered with a 'knife or sharp implement' in 2019.

"We had a 15% reduction in homicides last year, we have a detection rate on homicide of 96%," she said.

"We're one year into our violence suppression units. They alone have arrested 6000 people and taken 700 knives off the street.

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"We have been extremely successful in increasing our work against drug dealers. An extra 1500 charged last year. Shootings are down year on year."

Nick Ferrari challenged Dame Cressida Dick on the number of teenagers who have been killed in London in 2021.

"We're already looking at 14, and we're not through May yet. You know as well as I do that is not going to stay below 14, and this is a year when most of us haven't been able to leave our homes!

"Respectfully, how can you possibly sit there and say this is a success?"

The Commissioner replied: "I haven't said this is a success. What I have said is that we've had a lot of successes against the crime types that sit below, and lead to, these horrible homicides."

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