Policing of the Royal Parks was handed to the Metropolitan Police in 2004.

The Royal Parks include Hyde Park, <placename w:st=”on”>Regents</placename> <placetype w:st=”on”>Park</placetype> and St James’s Park ““ all of which have seen a steady rise in reported crime over the last four years, with <place w:st=”on”>Hyde Park</place> having the highest number of reported crimes of all six Royal Parks.  

The steepest rises in reported crime across the Royal Parks have been:

• Drug offences have risen from 942 reported crimes in 2008 to 1086 in 2011

• Theft and handling offences rose from 481 in 2008 to 781 last year

Labour <place w:st=”on”><city w:st=”on”>London</city></place> Assembly Member Murad Qureshi said:

“The Royal Parks are an essential green space in central <city w:st=”on”><place w:st=”on”>London</place></city> and this is a shocking rise in reported crime over the last four years in these well-visited and well-used parks. I have written to the Metropolitan Police Commissioner and asked him to investigate why reported crime is rising in these areas.

“I feel this should be taken extremely seriously as Hyde Park, <place w:st=”on”><placename w:st=”on”>Regents</placename> <placetype w:st=”on”>Park</placetype></place> and St James’s Park are tourist hotspots and we need to make sure visitors, as well as local residents feel safe when they’re visiting these areas.

Ends

Notes

1.      Murad Qureshi is a London-wide Assembly Member.

2.      The figures were obtained from a reply to Mayor’s question: http://mqt.london.gov.uk/mqt/public/question.do?id=42692