§ Dr. CableTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to ensure better co-operation between the Metropolitan Police and the British Transport Police to reduce the number of robberies occurring in the vicinity of underground and railway stations and to reduce the means of escape they offer to criminals. [50578]
§ Mr. MichaelThe deployment of staff and use of resources are operational decisions for the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and the Chief Constable of the British Transport Police. The Commissioner has confirmed to me that the Metropolitan Police and British Transport Police have a close working relationship. They272W co-operate and share information, and in relation to street robbery they work together in partnership under the banner of Operation "Eagle Eye".
Operation "Eagle Eye" is an initiative set up specifically to tackle street robbery through the collection and analysis of information about crimes and known offenders, together with sophisticated policing techniques to arrest street robbers. The Commissioner tells me that this initiative has led to a 5 per cent. fall in the number of robbery offences recorded in the year to March 1998.