'Significant' rise in burglary response, Met says

Sir Mark Rowley pledged that Met officers would attend all burglary reports in the capital

The number of reported burglaries attended by Met officers has doubled since the new Commissioner started, the force says.

The Met made attending burglaries a priority after Sir Mark Rowley named this as one of his aims for his first 100 days.

In September the Commissioner pledged the force would attend all London burglary reports.

The mayor called this "significant" but added that more "needs to be done".

According to the Met, officers attended 81.1% of reported home burglaries between October and November, compared to 31% for the same period in 2021.

The mayor of London Sadiq Khan and deputy mayor Sophie Linden joined the Assistant Commissioner Louisa Rolfe for a patrol with the Safer Neighbourhoods Team in Barnet on Friday morning.

• Met Police to attend all London burglaries - Rowley

• Police chiefs pledge to attend every burglary

The team carried out patrols in the Golders Green and Childs Hill wards, known to be a hotspot for burglaries, to show "the continuous work being done to pursue burglary offenders".

The patrols are part of a wider prevention programme by the Met Police to reduce home burglary offences in the capital.

Sadiq Khan said the Commission has his "full support" and called the figures "significant"

The Met also claims that between 17 October and 7 November, 177 offenders were caught for 297 burglary offences as part of a wider operation cracking down on organised crime.

The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: "This is one of a number of significant changes being introduced by the reforming Commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley - putting victims first, investigating crime thoroughly and getting the basics of policing right.

"But levels of crime remain far too high and I'm clear much more still needs to be done - not just to bring crime down further, but to improve the police response to thefts, robberies and anti-social behaviour.

"The Commissioner has my full support in driving the change in performance needed and I will carry on holding the Met to account so that we can continue to build a safer London for everyone."

'Visible presence is important'

Ms. Ali said she wanted to see the police building stronger bonds with local communities

Farah Ali, a local pharmacist in Barnet, told BBC London that she wanted the relationship between the police and her local community to return to "where we were".

Ms Ali said that as a local business that is open late with predominantly female staff, "safety is always going to be a major part of our concerns".

She added that in the past, there were more "police on the streets" and "we were able to feed to them our concerns and they were able to check in on us", and emphasised that "visible presence was really important".

When her pharmacy was burgled recently, the police did attend and the burglar was caught, which Ms. Ali said gave her "reassurance" and "hope that we're going to go in the right direction".

Follow BBC London on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail]