Letter: Police achievements in London borough

Sir: I read with some sadness the open letter from your correspondent William Hartston (28 April).

Islington Division, as part of my 'patch', has clearly focused goals. The prime one is to secure a lasting reduction in the number of victims. Primarily, this means victims of crime, but it also embraces the wider issue of public safety. This policy is vigorously pursued in partnership with the London borough of Islington and other agencies.

Indeed, Operation Welwyn, which deals with the long-standing problems of drugs and crime in King's Cross, is considered a model for such a multi-agency approach.

Mr Hartston therefore ignores the point. Police, in consultation with the local authority and the fire brigade, have taken action against unlicensed cinemas because they do not comply with the law and therefore put their patrons at risk. Our main concerns are the people who run these places, but we cannot ignore any other alleged misconduct which becomes apparent during such investigations.

This culture of achievement and partnership has shown some encouraging results in recent years, and this record of success is continuing. Islington Division has achieved a 28 per cent reduction in burglary in the first quarter of this year as part of the Bumblebee campaign, and a drop of 16 per cent in the total recorded crime. These results demonstrate that Mr Hartston's claim about us 'frittering away' our valuable resources is clearly misguided.

Rather than being ashamed of myself, as Mr Hartston suggests, I am extremely proud of the work done by my officers, both as the Area DAC and as someone who was born and bred in the borough of Islington. Our doors are open to Mr Hartston or anyone else to witness the success of our approach.

Yours faithfully,

MALCOLM SULLIVAN

Deputy Assistant Commissioner

1 Area (North)

Metropolitan Police

London, N9