THIS interesting article was on the front page of the BBC news web site today. The
Big Apple went a whole day without a violent crime being reported; a fantastic
achievement for a city with a population of over 8 million. I have no idea when
London could last boast such an accomplishment but I am confident it was no time
recent.
However, for me the more amazing fact mentioned in the
article was the murder (or homicide) rate in America's cities. In New York the
killing rate is down 23% this year thus far compared to last year, which
represents a 50 year low. Only 366 people have unlawfully laid down their lives
so far (at the time of writing). It is of course testimony to the hard work of
the NYPD that these figures are down, but I still find it staggering there is on
average over one murder every single day!
The Metropolitan Police said 125 victims died violently in
2011, down from 132 the previous year. London also has a population of
approximately 8 million citizens too. When a murder happens literally hundreds
of police officers and staff are launched in to action - from the bobbies who
are invariably first on the scene, scenes of crime investigators, teams of
detectives, search teams, statement takers, arrest tasking teams - the list
goes on. Huge demands are placed on any force when a major incident like this
occurs.
NY police have 34,500 uniformed employees and a $3.9 million
annual budget. The Met have31,000 constables (although this number is falling
even faster than New York's murder rate rises) and £4.1 million of tax payers
money to spend a year.#
Maybe the cities of the UK are actually safer places than we
realise…
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