Christmas crime rise, but Putney still safer than London overall

Crime figures in every single ward in Putney (and, I suspect, the borough) rose in December, but five of Putney's six wards remain much safer than the London average.

Crimes associated with Christmas - like theft and possession of stolen goods - were the principal cause of the uptick in figures, though in most areas crime was on the increase. But the London-wide crime rate was 126.4 crimes per 1,000 of the population; across Wandsworth as a whole the comparable figures was 111.1 and across Putney just 98.4 - we remain one of the safest and crime free communities in London. If crime committed in Putney High Street and Wandsworth town centre is removed from the picture, our residential areas fare even better.

One final point: you may have seen some coverage in the local news and by Conservative councillors that Southfields is to lose its Safer Neighbourhoods Police team. In fact, the team of six officers Southfields and every other ward in Wandsworth was promised by Ken Livingstone in the 2004 Mayoral Election is staying put. What the stories alluded to - but did not make clear, is that any extra Police officers the borough gets (and Putney has forty SNTs even though on a strict allocation we should only have 36) are to be allocated to parts of the borough with far higher crime rates than Southfields.

Here are the figures up to January:



And here's the table showing the figures up to December for comparison: