The Metropolis

Two cheers for the latest Tfl crime figures

Mike Pollitt | Thursday 17 November, 2011 12:59

Crime on London public transport is down. Only a hopeless Livingstonian would bemoan the fact. So lets give Tfl, the British Transport Police, and yes Mayor Johnson and his office some credit. Lord knows we’d be tearing into them if the figures were moving the other way.

It’s worth diving in to the detail.

Figures for the last quarter show the overall crime rate down on the same period last year, by 8% on the Tube and DLR and 15% on the buses.

There are some stand out contributors to this fall.

Drug offences, for example, are in freefall, down 33% on buses this quarter compared with last year.

The same is true on the Tube, over a longer period, where drug offences have halved since 2008.

So Londoners are either taking fewer drugs onto public transport, or getting better at hiding them, or the police are getting less good at finding them, or they’re not trying as hard. I’ll leave you to formulate your own theories.

The real crinkle in these figures is robbery, up 20% on buses this quarter, and also rising on the Tube in recent years.

But most crimes on public transport are thefts, and they are falling at a healthy rate. You’re less likely to have your bag nicked or you pocket picked than you used to be. This is good.

Read the figures (pdf) here.

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