Youth Knife Crimes In Wandsworth Doubles Over 4 Years

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As Government cuts Borough Community Safety Budgets

As the Government announced its anti-gang strategy, London MP and Shadow Home Affairs Minister Stella Creasy (pictured left), questioned whether Mayor Boris Johnson was up to leading for London on tackling knife crime. She said:

“Time and time again, Boris Johnson doesn’t seem to be able to get his facts right on this critical issue. He said when he was elected that he would never accept “defeat“ in the fight against knife crime – but three years on we can see it has risen every year of his term in office, with nearly 7,500 young victims this year alone. Boris Johnson keeps bungling the evidence of knife crime and youth offending, meaning Londoners are asking if we can have confidence in his ability to lead action in this area.

"Today’s gang announcement shows exactly why we need a Mayor who isn't confused but who can confront Theresa May. Gangs and knives are making the lives of many a misery in the capital but the Government is cutting the services needed to keep London safe.

"Many boroughs are seeing cuts of 30% or more in their youth offending teams, 20% in their community safety budgets, youth services slashed and we're losing 1,000 police officers from our streets. If Boris Johnson was serious about tackling knife crime he’d stop fluffing the figures, and start fighting for the needs of our city."

Wandsworth gets a 50% cut in its Community Safety Funding for 2012/2013, while Youth Knife Crime is up 20% from last year and almost 30% in the last three years.

Number of Knife Crime Victims between the ages of 13 - 24 in the Metropolitan Police Service Area broken down by borough for Financial Year 2007/08 - 2010/11

	FY 2007/08	FY 2008/09	FY 2009/10	FY 2010/11	%change from last year	% change from 2008
Wandsworth	160	178	212	255	20.28%	59.38%
	COMMUNITY SAFETY FUNDING Baseline 2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	Youth offending Team Funding  2011/12	Reduction on 2010/ 2011 budget	% cut in YOT budget 2011/12
Wandsworth	485,127	388,102	194,051	£654,445.00	-£131,861.00	-16.77%
London Sub Total	13,269,215	10,615,372	5,307,686	-	-	-

Cuts to Borough Community Safety and Youth Offending Teams 2011-13

November 1, 2011