CCTV not recovered in over 100K crimes including murders, rapes and stabbings
Posted by GLA Conservatives in Blog
‘Digital map of existing private surveillance cameras¹ could help police solve crimes overnight’
Police are not looking at available CCTV footage for the majority of their investigations in London. New FOI figures² reveal that police are recovering existing footage in just a fifth of crimes in the Capital.Officers retrieved CCTV for just 23,278 crimes, compared to 118,287 crimes where footage was not obtained.
Roger Evans, Conservative London Assembly Member, who uncovered the figures, says:
“CCTV is everywhere. In 2007 it was claimed that the UK had 1% of the world's population but 20% of its CCTV cameras. While it is meant to be there to protect us from crime, these figures demonstrate that they are rarely used. Instead, serious crooks such as murderers, rapists and robbers may be getting off scot free for one in five crimes because the available CCTV is not even recovered. Acquisitive crime such as theft and burglary may not be sexy, but it is serious and can have a devastating impact. Victims repeatedly tell me that too often in spite of existing CCTV of the crime, no investigation using this evidence seems to take place.”
“Since when has a £46K starting salary and 43 days of holiday a year not been enough for tube drivers?”
In response to today’s announcement of Boxing Day strikes being avoided as tube bosses agree to a £350 bonus for tube drivers, Conservative London Assembly Member Richard Tracey said:
“TfL should not be in a position where they feel they have no choice but to pay a bung of £280K of fare payer and taxpayer money in order to stop union bosses holding London to ransom on one of the busiest shopping days of the year. Since when has a £46K starting salary and 43 days of holiday a year not been enough for tube drivers? This proves that even when strike action does not go ahead, the threat is often used by union bosses to make Londoners suffer. The Government needs to urgently ban tube strikes and replace them with an independent mediation process which protects workers’ rights.”
Call for Mayor to bring Piccadilly Line to Turnham Green Station
New report calls for TfL to institute change by January 2014 to satisfy 6 million footfall
A new report “All Aboard at Turnham Green” has called on the Mayor and Transport for London to include Turnham Green as a stop on the Piccadilly Line from January 2014. Turnham Green has an annual footfall of 6 million, which is greater than both Hyde Park and Mansion House in zone 1.
Richard Tracey: Slash over-generous perks and pensions to cut fares further for years to come
A real terms public transport fares freeze in January is very welcome news; lower tube and bus fares not only benefit passengers but the growth of the city overall. However by further addressing waste and improving efficiency across the organisation, TfL could continue to freeze fares at inflation in future years.
TfL is a behemoth of an organisation with an annual turnover just shy of £10bn and a capital investment programme running into the tens of billions. Yet when defending fare rises, transport bosses shout from the rooftops about the damaging effect of not putting up fares by more than inflation. Freezing fares at inflation for one year costs TfL £34 million in lost revenue. Freezing fares indefinitely clearly quickly multiplies this cost, but even so, it doesn’t seem like an impossible amount to find given the size of TfL’s budget. The tricky part is finding this money without harming TfL’s vast investment programme.
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