The Mayor of London is still refusing to sign up to the UK Statistics Authority’s Code of Practice on Official Statistics . Despite his then-Deputy Mayor for Dangerous Dogs Policing condemning the use of context-free statistics a mere three months ago, every London borough’s MPS now has its own Twitter account to issue propaganda helpful information, including, as we see in the case of Barnet, crime statistics which directly contradict the latest statistics on the MPS website.
@MPSBarnet tweeted this morning:
Latest crime figures for
#MPSBarnet are Robbery down 16% Burglary down 21% Car Crime down 10% & Assault down 24%. Total crime down 9%
Yet the MPS website gives the following statistics for Barnet:
| 12 months to April 12 (year) | 12 months to April 11 (year) | |||
| Number of Offences | Barnet | Met Total | Barnet | Met Total |
| Total Crimes | 26,153 | 810,548 | 25,912 | 821,250 |
| Homicide | 3 | 99 | 8 | 124 |
| Violence Against the Person (Total) | 4,130 | 152,758 | 4,459 | 164,868 |
| Rape | 81 | 3,325 | 98 | 3,252 |
| Other Sexual | 217 | 6,741 | 209 | 6,891 |
| Robbery (Total) | 1,175 | 38,610 | 1,034 | 36,248 |
| Robbery (Person) | 1,090 | 35,872 | 963 | 33,282 |
| Robbery (Business) | 85 | 2,738 | 71 | 2,966 |
| Burglary (Total) | 4,816 | 96,213 | 4,681 | 93,862 |
| Burglary Residential | 3,395 | 63,655 | 3,434 | 61,434 |
| Burglary Non-Residential | 1,421 | 32,558 | 1,247 | 32,428 |
| Gun Crime | 49 | 2,320 | 63 | 2,676 |
| Motor Vehicle Crime | 4,557 | 98,891 | 3,837 | 100,144 |
| Domestic Crime | 1,137 | 46,821 | 1,207 | 48,360 |
| Racist & Religious Hate Crime | 221 | 8,224 | 230 | 8,727 |
| Homophobic Crime | 10 | 1,211 | 5 | 1,365 |
Aside from dodgy stats, the MPS Twitter accounts are also being used to plug the Met’s current meaningless catchphrase, Total War On Crime. The Total War On Crime would appear to have begun on 25 May, before which date we can only assume a partial war on crime.
Hello Lewisham thought I would try tweeting today to outline our commitment to a total war on crime – Chief Supt Burton Borough Commander
13 cars seized in Enfield yesterday during Operation Cubo, just one of the tactics being used in our total war on crime. JJBoroughCommander
Poor old @MPSMerton, though, would seem to be limited to just one day for their Total War On Crime:
Merton’s Total War on Crime Day has begun. Borough Commander in at 3.00am to brief teams & set out the plans for the day of action.
Featuring some Walmart-like staff exercises and bonding activities, no doubt. Have a nice day, now.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
“total war on crime”?
I bought a copy of total war – that was a crime.
These pigs have no idea – and the police aren’t much cop either?
Crime is UP – reported crime is DOWN.
That’s all these statistics tell you.
It’s interesting to note that crime has apparently fallen in London – but considering the 2012 figures INCLUDE THE RIOTS – I am very, very surprised.
They are clearly fiddling the numbers as there were more crimes in 3 days than there usually is in 3 months!