Following the closure of more than 100 local police stations, crime rates in London skyrocketed, and residents and business owners in the areas left without one are outraged about it, according to a MailOnline investigation.
This week, it was revealed that the number of active police stations in the capital has dropped to only 36 from 160 in 2008. This is an astounding 77% decrease.
The cuts have doubled the distance an average Londoner has to travel to their nearest manned police help desk to around two miles – with researchers warning criminals were specifically targeting areas the Met has abandoned.
Among those closed, some have been turned into luxury flats, others remain vacant – and one was even taken over by gangsters to be used as a weed factory.
A pattern of anecdotal reports of a spike in crime, coupled with a sense of helplessness in the face of it, was observed by MailOnline when it visited the neighbourhoods around several former police stations.
Analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies found police station closures were linked to a 11 per cent increase in local assaults and murders, a doubling of response times and a reduction in the reporting of shoplifting and bike thefts.
But, if anything, anecdotal evidence they gathered from residents suggests that crime rates could be even higher – as many say they have simply given up reporting crime such is their dissatisfaction with the Met Police.
Typical are those living close to that police station that was used to grow cannabis – as much as £1 million worth it was estimated when it was uncovered 18 months ago – in Streatham, south London.
After the police station across the street closed ten years ago, Raja Luthra, 72, who has operated a jeweller for fifty years, felt compelled to put remote-controlled metal gates in front of his store.
He said: ‘It is the only way I can guarantee not getting robbed after the police station closed down.
‘I used to be able to take lunch round the corner but not anymore. The whole area has become more dangerous and it got worse after the police left.’
Streatham Police Station is now boarded up and daubed in graffiti with cardboard patched over glass-less windows.
Mr Luthra went on: ‘It sounds like something I made up but a few years ago there was a fire here.
‘When there was an investigation they realised electricity was being illegally syphoned to the old police station to grow the cannabis plants and it started a fire. To think – a cannabis factory in an old police station.’
Streatham-based bar worker Mike Steven, 20, said: ‘Streatham is a high crime area and closing down the police station has made it worse.
‘There is a lot of knife crime among young people but there is no police presence because there’s no police station.’
Dog owner Dunstan Farmer, 50, added: ‘There is no deterrent to committing crime in Streatham. It can be terrifying at night.
‘The police station was even taken over and used as a cannabis factory. ‘It only got found out by the fire brigade when there was an electrical fire!’
Pub cleaner Katiuscia Hirconda, 39, said how she is frightened by phone-snatching gangs carrying knives.
She said: ‘There is a lot of crime here.
‘People get their phones stolen by people only bikes. And there are lots of people carrying knives. It can be very frightening.’
Grandmother Merrill Rennalls, 68, added: ‘There is a lot stabbing of young people here, it’s horrible and having no police station is no good.
‘As a mother and grandmother, I want there to be more activities for young people to do to keep them out of trouble.’
Web designer Niall McKenna, 40, said he had felt it more difficult to report crime since the police station was shut.
He said: Closing down the police station has certainly not helped to bring down crime in this area.
‘In Streatham, you hardly ever see a police officer. And because of the lack of police presence gangs just run wild.
‘I tried to report these two lads who were walking around carrying knives, but there was nowhere to report it. So, I had to go home and report it online.’
The police station in Camberwell, situated between a well-known Greek bakery and a Lebanese restaurant, is still vacant and neglected.
There, IT consultant Clifford Kumar, 50, said: ‘Closing down a police station sends out the signal to criminals that they have free rein, that it is a free-for-all all.
‘It makes the local people feel that the police don’t care about them or the neighbourhood.
‘I’ve seen people on bicycles riding around looking for phones to snatch. It’s like they are circling, looking for their prey.’
Restaurant manager Didric Berlier, 30, said: ‘To be honest I feel safer in Camberwell than I do in central London, like Leicester Square. But it is a lot safer than Brussels, where I come from.’
People who do still have police stations appear to value them.
Restaurant worker Bianca Mazznitin, 33: ‘I live next to the police station in Elephant and Castle, and it gives me a real sense of security.
‘It makes me feel safe and that the police are interested in the neighbourhood.’
Last month, Croydon was declared the most dangerous borough in London, with over 10,000 violent events reported in the previous year.
In the UK, governments have been permitted to get away with what is occurring, and law and order have been deteriorating for years with a focus on aiding criminals.
When was the last time the general public was involved in any decision made? Have you not understood that we, the voting people, are helpless and that we have no control over what the government does? We may as well be ants.
The UK has been harmed in every aspect by years of right-leaning Tory policy. Things can only improve if the appropriate party is elected, and even then, it will take decades to reverse the damage.
The people who vote in the UK have had a chance to vote and have their say, but do they really have that chance to have their vote and have their say? You go to the polling stations, and I’m not sure if anyone else has noticed – they give you a pencil for your vote – easy to rub out and change, along with postal votes. We are just led by corruption by all authorities who fill their pockets and pensions. They treat us like mushrooms, they keep us in the dark, and feed us sh*t!
The UK was once great, now it’s a great big cesspit.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 