Counting the cost of London crime

The real cost of crime in London is a massive £3 billion a year, or £400 each for every man, woman and child.

A groundbreaking study by campaign group the TaxPayers’ Alliance has calculated the cost using official crime statistics for Met areas and Home Office studies – estimating what each type of crime means to victims and to the criminal justice system.

It reveals that the cost of crime per person varies hugely between boroughs, with outer suburbs being hit by a fraction of the bill facing big inner-city boroughs.

Hardest hit is Westminster, where £154 million worth of crime cost £620 per resident. That includes £292 for violence against the person, £76 for sexual offences, £53 for robberies, £20 for burglaries, £132 for other theft and £11 for criminal damage.

Next worst is Islington, where the £590 cost per person includes £309 for violence, £54 for sexual offences, £59 for robbery, £47 for burglaries, £78 for theft and £17 in criminal damage.

Bottom of the league table for crime costs is Richmond, at just £215 a head. Violence accounted for £99 per resident, sexual offences £24, robberies and muggings £17, burglaries £20, thefts £24 and criminal damage £12.

The calculations – updated to account for inflation – draw on a 2005 Home Office research paper into what crimes really cost. For example, a typical home burglary costs the capital £3,268 at 2003 prices – but only £846 of that is the value of items stolen.

In addition, £187 worth of property is destroyed, £11 is spent on victims’ services, economic output is reduced by £64 and the criminal justice system spends £1,137 trying to catch and prosecute the offenders. The emotional impact on victims is valued at an extra £646, while anti-theft defences cost £221 and insurance administration another £177. Crimes of violence impose the biggest costs, at £215 per head. Sexual offences cost £42 per person, while robberies and muggings cost £43.

Matthew Sinclair, policy analyst at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said the study showed crime costs needed to be reduced as well as crime rates.

Spending by the Met has risen in recent years by 39 per cent, from £2.3billion in 2001-02 to £3.2 billion in 2006-07.