§ Lord Harris of Greenwichasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many robberies and assaults, including sexual attacks, took place in the London Underground during 1989, and what are the comparable figures for 1986, 1987 and 1988.
§ Viscount DavidsonThe numbers of reported crimes on the Underground by category for the years in question are as follows:1298WA
I am encouraged that the level of crime on the Underground has begun to decline in recent years and particularly pleased that robberies and assaults on passengers decreased substantially last year. The increase in sexual offences exhibits a worrying trend, but the British Transport Police believe that more women are now prepared to report such incidents and the increased number of police on the system has resulted in a high detection rate for these incidents. Any level of crime is unacceptable and the British Transport Police, together with London Underground Limited, are continuing in their efforts to reduce crime on the Underground still further.
CRIME ON LONDON UNDERGROUND: 1986–89 1986 1987 1988 1989 Robbery (i.e. mugging) 685 883 1,207 737 Assault on Police 120 131 171 174 Assault on Staff 112 163 101 153 Assault on Passengers 646 635 776 691 "Sexual Offences"* 354 334 451 632 Theft from Person (i.e. pickpocketing) 7,007 7,994 7,009 7,267 Total Crime 1 6,100 17,799 16,436 16,057 *"Sexual Offences" covers a range of incidents from indecent exposure (223 in 1989) to rape (3 in 1989).