Blunkett gets tough on Yard

David Blunkett has delivered an ultimatum to Scotland Yard's chief: sort out violent crime in London or face takeover.

The Home Secretary wants a curb on the visible signs of violence and street robbery by the summer, after the latest figures show a huge rise in street robberies.

In an interview with the Evening Standard, Mr Blunkett warned the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir John Stevens, that he will send in his own management hit squad to oversee the force in key boroughs. He warned the Commissioner: "We will give you the freedom to do the job but if you don't do it, I'll have to intervene. Because in the end the people of London, as with the rest of the country, will turn to me as Home Secretary and say, 'What did you do about it?'"

He gave him two timeframes to work in. First, he has six months to demonstrate a sharp fall in street robberies.

"Second, he has two years to organise a strategy that will see all crime brought under control.

His threatened intervention underlines increased government concern that crime will spiral out of control unless uncompromising measures are taken. In recent weeks the Home Secretary has signalled his unhappiness that police tactics are not effective enough.

Evening Standard launched a campaign this week highlighting the problems, called Fight Street Crime. We disclosed yesterday that police in some London boroughs were catching barely one in 20 street robbers last year.

Asked how long he was prepared to give Sir John to make a difference, the Home Secretary said: "I think realistically we need two different time scales. We need over this next six months to clamp down on the visible signs of violence and street robbery.

"We need two years to be able to turn around the position where people genuinely feel that we are going in the right direction. And on this occasion, it's not my head that's on the block, it's all our heads, because we've just got to get it right together for the sake of the capital, for its economy, for its social well-being and for people's freedom to be able to walk safely on the streets."

If the force is unable to show signs of improvement, Mr Blunkett made it plain that he will use new powers that allow him to parachute in senior officers and management to ensure the correct action is taken. The scheme is modelled on the powers which allow a takeover of failing state schools which he pioneered as education secretary.

Mr Blunkett set out a four point plan for change.

? First, a clampdown on street crime, robbery and violence. He said: "We have got to come down as heavily on that as we have done on burglary and vehicle crime. It's harder to crack but it's also something that makes a difference to people's perception of their well-being and fear of crime and preparedness to be part of the solution."

? Ensuring that police have the resources. He particularly wants to see computer analysis of crime hot-spots stepped up.

? A war on anti-social behaviour "through an intolerance of the intolerable, so that if people have a problem in their neighbourhood with just basic thuggish behaviour, it isn't tolerated by the police".

? Clear responsibility and accountability. Mr Blunkett said: "My job is to get resources, it's to set the framework, but it's the Met Police Authority, the Mayor and the Met together that will make the difference. We need to each take responsibility for our area, and be clear what it is, and then hold each other to account for what happens."

In the interview, the Home Secretary also said his long-term ambition was to raise London's police strength to somewhere near the level of New York - a similar-sized city which has 42,000 police compared to London's 26,500.

Speaking after a Westminster summit meeting with Met Deputy Commissioner Ian Blair and former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, the Home Secretary welcomed Scotland Yard's early signs of progress in the fight against street robbery after the launch last week of a special 500-strong squad.

Scotland Yard arrested 1,300 street robbers in four days last week and street crime fell by 10 per cent compared to the previous week after hundreds of officers were taken off traffic duties and diverted into the fight against the muggers.

But Mr Blunkett made clear that his new police standards unit will be ready to step in and take over where borough commanders cannot deliver Londoners from robbers and other violent criminals.

Mr Blunkett said London " obviously needs more police". He

predicted it would take between five and 10 years, but with new recruits joining the force at a rate of 2,000 a year, he said: "I think long-term we ought to get as near the kind of number that New York has."

But stressing that the fight against crime is not all about police numbers, he said targeted policing and measures to remove incompetent officers were important. He said: "That is why we are taking measures to get people out of the station and on to the streets and why the moves over the past week in picking people up are so important, because they illustrate a determination to target resources where they are most needed.

"This changed attitudes in New York. They reoccupied the city, they got people to believe they could walk with confidence on the streets."

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