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Lambeth Liberal DemocratsNews, views and contact information for the
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Lambeth Crime Figures Rocket
October 7, 2009 4:26 PM
Lambeth has hit the headlines again for all the wrong reasons with crime figures showing a worrying 27% increase over the past six months.
Labour-run Lambeth Council has been singled out by the British Crime Survey for its massive 27% increase in residential burglary topping even a London-wide increase of 9.2%.
A survey among civil servants and town hall officials involved in crime-fighting measures across England and Wales warned that theft, violent crime and alcohol and drug abuse were all on the rise. Half the respondents told researchers from the Local Government Association that burglary had increased over the past year.
Some commentators have blamed this as a factor of the recession but the startling spike in the crime figures has already led Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson to order a crackdown in a bid to reduce the number of offences. Codenamed Operation Bumblebee, the police sting will target prolific burglars and also encourage householders to improve security.
Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said: 'This is more evidence from the frontline that Britain is in the grip of a credit crunch crime wave.
'The Government needs to end its obsession with top-down targets and bureaucratic meddling and let councils and police forces get on with fighting crime.'