New York - London
There are now between 4000 and 5000 muggings per month (50,000 per year) in London. There have been more than 90 carjackings (a new word, no doubt, as it’s attracted the irritating red squiggle) in the last year alone. And you now put your life in danger if you carry a mobile phone.
By contrast, the New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has recently launched Operation Clean Sweep against such “quality of life” offences such as begging, drinking in the street, disorderly conduct and prostitution. He can afford to concentrate on such seemingly mundane offences because of the success of ex-mayor Rudy Giuliani’s “zero tolerance” policy, which has reduced street crime to the lowest level in four decades. Forty Years! If that doesn’t deserve a round of applause then I don’t know what does.
When Giuliani came to office in 1993 New York seemed to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown with over 2000 murders a year. In eight years he’s brought that number down to 33. Wow!
Giuliani’s policy was to house the homeless, put welfare scroungers to work, rid the streets of muggers and drug dealers and even tackle the Mafia. His tactics were to increase the strength of the city’s police force to the point where New York – with the same population – has twice as many officers on the street as London.
And it’s worked. I think all would agree that London could do far worse than to take a leaf out of Giuliani’s book?
