'We don't feel safe in London!' Londoner confronts Sadiq Khan for SOARING crime in capital
LONDON Mayor Sadiq Khan faced a brutal grilling at the State of London debate on Thursday by a Londoner demanding he makes the city a safe place for her son.
Londoner rages at Sadiq Khan over lack of knife crime safety
London’s murder rate temporarily overtook New York’s for the first time in March, and Sadiq Khan has come under increasing pressure to take action.
As a result, Mr Khan and Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn have pointed the finger at police cuts with the number of officers falling by more than 20,000 since 2010.
But one Londoner was furious at the Mayor for constantly referring to statistics and failing to tackle the capital’s violent crime epidemic.
One Londoner blasted: “In February alone, 250 knives and swords were seized across London, just within one week. We had 51 people who have fatally been stabbed in London since the beginning of this year.
We don’t feel safe in London
“One of those people were stabbed 200 yards from a closed police station here in Greenwich where I live. Already, from 2018 we have 1,296 reported stabbings in London, according to these statistics.
“One of those happened outside that police station that is closed down, my local police station. There are no bobbies on our street. Londoners, we don’t feel safe. Our communities do not feel safe.
“You give me statistics, Mr Khan and that’s fair enough. But for me as a parent, I’m telling you, we do not feel safe. We don’t feel safe in London.
“Please don’t give me statistics. Give me known facts so I can let my son out in the streets of London and feel safe.”
Sadiq Khan accepts blame for rising violence in London
LBC's James O’Brien, who was hosting the debate, said: “This is a feeling that is widespread. It’s not confined to any particular parts of the community or any particular parts of the city. We are measurably and demonstrably less safe under your mayoralty than we were under the last one.”
The Mayor was jeered by audience members as he blamed the rising crime levels on budget cuts. He said: “It’s really important to look at the evidence. The evidence is that over the last four years across England and Wales, crime has been going up.
“But across the last eight years, I know talking about numbers can sometimes appear like we don’t understand the concerns that Londoners have, but across the last eight years, we as a city have lost £720million from our budget.
“Across the country, crime in London is going up less steeply than crime across England and Wales.”
Knife crime 'tsunami' has hit the UK, says police officer
Mr Khan said the huge number of knives seized by police in recent months should give people “confidence” that the police are tackling the issue.
He added: “Even with 30,000 police officers, they need our cooperation. We have got to be the eyes and ears of the police.
“If you’re a mum and a dad, a big brother or big sister, and uncle or aunty and somebody in your home is leaving the house with a knife and you can’t persuade them to leave the knife at home – you’ve got to ring the police.
“By ringing the police you are not only keeping that young person safe but keeping the rest of Londoners safe as well. The police rely on the intelligence from the public.”
Mr Khan said the Metropolitan Police are “overstretched and under-resourced” and need Londoners’ help to make the city safer.
He said: “We are doing our bit from city hall and the Met are doing their bit – I’ll carry on lobbying the Government to give us the resources that we need.”