§ 20. Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the incidence of street crimes committed by black youths in the Metropolitan Police area since the disorders in Brixton in April 1981.
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§ Mr. WhitelawI understand from the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis that in the six-month period following the disturbances in April 1981 about 2,200 persons of West Indian or African appearance were arrested for those offences of stealing most likely to have occurred in the street. These amounted to about 20 per cent. of all such arrests.
§ 37. Mr. Proctorasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what has been the growth of street crimes in inner London in the last nine months.
§ Mr. MayhewWe understand from the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis that it is not possible to identify separately all those recorded crimes which occurred in the street. The only information available relates to those offences of stealing most likely to occur in the street—theft or unauthorised taking of a motor vehicle, theft from a vehicle, theft of a pedal cycle, theft from a person of another and robbery. The total number of such offences recorded in inner London in the first nine months of 1981 was 14 per cent. higher than in the corresponding period of 1980.