Harrow’s police commander has overseen a drop in crime of more than 15 per cent in the year since he started.

Chief Superintendent Simon Ovens became borough commander of Harrow this time last year.

For the past 12 months while he has been in charge of the borough the number of serious crimes has dropped by 15.6 per cent compared to the year before.

There has been a drop in burglary of 19 per cent despite a spike in offences at the beginning of the year.

The number of burglaries fell following the arrest and conviction of four gangs operating in the borough.

The borough commander said: “It has been a fantastic year and I have really enjoyed driving down crime in the borough.

"I am particularly proud of the all the hard work of my officers who have made this possible and the support they have given to the community.

“We are well on our way to becoming the safest borough in London. In my time here I have been really pleased with the work we have done with our partner organisations and the support we have had from the public.

“Compared to the other boroughs I have worked in I think the relationship we have with our partners in is unprecedented.

“The days of action we have had with the council, fire service, customs and the Home office means we can have a huge impact to the community.”

In June last year, Chief Supt Ovens announced his pledge to make Harrow the safest borough in three years focusing on seven neighbourhood crimes set out by the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC).

These include violence with injury, robbery, burglary, theft of a motor vehicle, theft from a motor vehicle, theft from a person and criminal damage.

However in the previous year the number of reported incidents of domestic violence has gone up by 20 per cent.

Mr Ovens said: “I think this is a good sign, showing people who are affected by domestic violence are willing to come forward and have confidence in police.

“I don’t think it shows there are more cases of domestic violence, just they are being reported.

“We have had some serious cases in the last year which have been publicised which I think shows we will take any incident seriously.”