Met denies 'massaging' crime figures
11:11am Friday 18th April 2008
The Met Police have denied 'massaging' crime figures for political reasons.
The force was accused of bowing to pressure and deliberately preventing people from reporting crime to keep crime figures low in a report printed yesterday in a London newspaper.
The statistics were also said to be 'inaccurate' and not a true reflection of the amount of crime in London.
But the Met's Deputy Commissioner Paul Stephenson rejected the claims.
He said: "The Met has had a policy of publishing its crime figures on a monthly basis for almost 10 years.
"Since 2002 these published figures have shown that overall crime in London has fallen year-on-year.
"Any suggestion that the Met "fixes" its crime figures would be misleading and not only damages the reputation of the Met Police, but would be disparaging to the thousands of men and women from the Met who every day are risking their lives and having major success in tackling crime to make London safe."
Mr Stephenson said crime figures were subject to a "high level of scrutiny".
And he said it was Scotland Yard which approached the Metropolitan Police Authority to undertake scrutiny of crime reporting data, which was being criticised by the media.
But he expressed concern about unacceptable levels of bureaucracy getting in the way of real police work.
"This is something we raised with Sir Ronnie Flanagan and upon which he reflects in his review of policing," he added.