Croydon Council has launched a campaign to get more police officers on Croydon’s streets in order to boost the borough’s fight against crime and antisocial behaviour.

Residents and businesses are being urged to sign a petition which the council will present to Mayor of London, Boris Johnson.

Although Croydon is the largest London borough, and a major transport hub and retail centre with a large night-time economy, it has only been allocated the eighth highest number of police officers.

Councillor Gavin Barwell, cabinet member for safety and cohesion, said: “Our local police do a fantastic job and the council’s relationship with them is excellent.

“But there is clear evidence that, relative to other boroughs, the number of full-time police officers in Croydon does not adequately reflect the number of offences.

“Newham, Hackney and Tower Hamlets have all been allocated more full time police officers than Croydon, yet because they are much smaller than Croydon, they have to deal with fewer offences.”

During Operation Safe for All, between October 2008 and March 2009, Croydon was allocated additional police officers from the Territorial Support Group.

A council spokesman said this resulted in a 19.5 per cent reduction in serious youth violence a 36 per cent reduction in knife crime and robbery went down by 15 per cent.

Coun Stuart Collins, shadow crime and public protection spokesman, said: “This is a campaign with cross-party support.

“We believe that Croydon needs more police, and our local force has demonstrated that they can drive down crime with the right resources.

“We’d like to see more police officers on Croydon’s streets, and more police stations in our local communities."

This is not the first time calls have been made for more police in the borough. Croydon Central MP Andrew Pelling has been running a petition to get more cops on the streets since last year.

To sign the petition, text MORE POLICE, followed by your name, first line of your address and postcode to 60660. Alternatively log on to www.croydon.gov.uk/morepolice to sign online or fill in a postcards found at all Croydon libraries. You won’t need a stamp.

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