§ Mr. Clinton Davisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will set up an independent public inquiry into violent crime and its causes and treatment within the Metropolitan police district.
§ Mr. Proctorasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will hold a public inquiry into the increases in offences of robbery and other violent theft committed by coloured people in the Metropolitan police districts; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. WhitelawI am not persuaded that such an inquiry would make a useful contribution to the formulation of policy in tackling violent crime.
§ Mr. Proctorasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will take steps to collect statistics on a yearly basis of those persons arrested, prosecuted and convicted for offences of robbery and other violent theft by each police district in Metropolitan London and by ethnic appearance; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MayhewThe Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis already collects certain statistics of this kind. We are arranging for the readily available information to be included in a reply to a question by my hon. Friend to be answered later this week.
§ Mr. Clinton Davisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement as to the value and relevance to him of the information set out in the reply to the hon. Member for Basildon (Mr. Proctor) Official Report, 22 March, c. 366–368.
§ Mr. MayhewDetails of the appearance of a suspect have to be collected in the course of the normal investigation of a recorded offence. The reliability of the victim's assessment of the ethnic appearance of an assailant will depend on the circumstances of the offence. This weakness must be borne in mind in the interpretation of any statistics based on this information, but these statistics give the best information which is available on a matter of current public concern. It is our practice to give information in reply to questions by hon. Members when it is readily available and can be provided without disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. Proctorasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will give figures for the number of offences of assault, robbery and other violent theft in the 4W Metropolitan London police districts in 1980, 1981 and 1982 with a breakdown of the ethnic appearance of assailant;
(2) if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing the ethnic appearance of victims of recorded offences of robbery and other violent theft for each Metropolitan police district and in total in 1982 for the following categories where the victim's perception of the appearance of assailant was (a) white, (b) coloured, (c) mixed gang (d) unknown; if he will tabulate the comparative figures for 1981; and if he will show the percentage change between 1981 and 1982;
(3) if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing the ethnic breakdown of the victims of recorded offences of robbery and other violent theft for each Metropolitan police district and in total in 1982; if he will tabulate the comparable figures for 1981; and if he will show the percentage change between 1981 and 1982 in each case.
§ Mr. MayhewWe understand from the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis that the readily available information is as given in the following tables and in the reply I gave today to a question from the hon. Member for Wolverhampton North-East (Mrs. Short). We are arranging with the Commissioner for a systematic analysis of the ethnic information for the Metropolitan police district for all types of offence to be published in due course.
5W
Table 1 Offences recorded in the Metropolitan Police offence groups of 'Assaults, etc.' and 'Robbery and other violent theft'
Metropolitan Police District Offence and year Total* Victim's assessment of ethnic appearance of assailant White Coloured Mixed gang Not known Number of offences Assaults, etc. 1977 13,378 5,234 2,212 242 5,690 1978 14,727 5,993 2,301 368 6,065 1979 16,425 6,830 2,442 371 6,782 1980 16,139 6,857 2,406 491 6,385 1981 16,282 7,212 2,657 273 6,140 1982 17,374 8,276 3,044 288 5,766 Robbery and other violent theft 1977 12,415 3,026 6,321 527 2,541 1978 12,180 2,969 6,027 910 2,274 1979 11,636 2,988 5,873 702 2,073 1980 13,984 3,830 7,067 818 2,269 1981 18,763 4,967 10,399 704 2,693 1982 19,258 5,262 10,960 534 2,502 Percentage of total offences Assaults, etc. 1977 100 39 17 2 43 1978 100 41 16 2 41 1979 100 42 15 2 41 1980 100 42 15 3 40 1981 100 44 16 2 38 1982 100 48 18 2 33 Robbery and other violent theft 1977 100 24 51 4 20 1978 100 24 49 7 19 1979 100 26 50 6 18 1980 100 27 51 6 16 1981 100 26 55 4 14 1982 100 27 57 3 13 * Percentages may not add to 100 because they have been been rounded independently.
Table 2 Recorded offences of robbery and other violent theft Metropolitan Police District Percentages Ethnic appearance Victim's perception of ethnic of victim Total* appearance of assailant White Coloured Mixed gang Not known 1981 White-skinned European 78 76 78 76 81 Black-skinned 4 3 4 3 3 Indian/Pakistani 11 11 11 11 9 Dark-skinned European 5 4 5 6 4 Other 2 1 2 2 2 Unknown 2 4 1 2 1 Total 100 100 100 100 100 1982 White-skinned European 77 76 77 76 82 Black-skinned 4 3 5 4 4 Indian/Pakistani 11 13 11 10 8 Dark-skinned European 4 4 5 4 3 Other 2 1 2 1 2 Unknown 2 3 1 4 1 Total 100 100 100 100 100 * Percentages may not add to 100 because they have been rounded independently.