London overtakes New York for the city with the highest murder rate

For the first time ever in modern history, the monthly murder rate of London has overtaken New York City. The figures from the New York Police Department and the Metropolitan Police showed that there were 15 murders in London while New York only had 14 for February.

Additionally London had 22 murders in March where New York trailed again with 21. The Metropolitan figures for the month of March have not been officially released but sources have claimed that the number is correct. Overall London still has had fewer killings for the year of 2018 where 46 have been reported to New York’s 50.

Recently New York City recorded that the year of 2017 had the fewest amount of murders and the lowest crime rate for the city in decades. Police Commissioner, James O’Neill, stated that New York isn’t the violent nightmare that the media or movies portray it to be. The massive reduction in numbers shows that the procedures that the city has implemented seem to be effective.

Sadiq Khan’s office, who is currently the mayor of London stated that he was deeply concerned with the figures of knife crime and the number of murders but insisted that London is still one of the safest cities in the world.

London and New York share a similarly sized population of roughly 8.5 million people.  It is important to note that New York has managed to dramatically drop their murder rate by approximately 87 percent since the peak in the 1990s.

In contrast, London’s murder rate has continued to increase since 2014 where there were 94 murders. 2015 had 119 murders, 2016 there was 109 and then 134 in 2017. The majority of the murders are from knife related crime where from the 46 murders so far this year, 4 were from gunshots.

Cressida Dick, the head of the Metropolitan Police Force, partially blamed social media for the rise in knife crime for the city. In December last year, Dick appealed for more funding for the police force to combat the rise in knife crime.

Unfortunately the budget for the police force was cut despite the rising crime rates. Dick told a panel of Parliament members in November 2017 that the proposed $560 million cut to the Metropolitan Police Force would result in a loss of 27,000 police officer jobs.

Daniel Baguley
Daniel Baguley
Daniel translates his passion for the digital world into his work. He truly believes that we are at the forefront of technology and is eager to see what the future holds for the public and businesses alike.
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