Police in Ealing have launched an operation to reduce the number of violence-related offences after 2,539 were committed in the borough in the last year.
Operation Equinox aims to protect victims and prosecute violent individuals by working in partnership with London local authorities and various organisations.
In Ealing there were 2539 such offences over the past year.
A high proportion of these crimes typically occurs between the times of 6pm and 6am, and is often focused around licensed venues such as pubs, nightclubs and fast food outlets.
Temporary Borough Commander for Ealing Paul Martin said: “Ealing Borough has this year suffered a 7.7% increase in violent offences. We are working jointly with our partners to coordinate a focused response in tackling these offences. We have tasked significant resources into our problem places and venues to proactively address and reverse this trend.”
The incentive will see boroughs across the capital join forces over the coming months in a coordinated crackdown to target a number of violent crime related hot spots like licensed venues and fast food outlets.
Latest figures from the Met police show that there were 65,770 'violence with injury' such as grievous bodily harm, actual bodily harm and assault with injury offences over the twelve months up to the end of October 13 2014. This is an increase of 17.2 per cent on the previous 12 months.
Research carried out on the figures indicates that the rise is likely to be attributable to improved recording practices rather than a rise in violence per se.
This total figure is broken down into 22,061 domestic abuse offences as opposed to 43,709 non-domestic abuse offences.
As the nights draw in and clocks go back there is also a traditional spike in such crimes as robbery, burglary and anti-social behaviour, the latter often fuelled by alcohol, which can also be associated with violence.
In Ealing Operation Equinox will deploy resources across a wide range of activities - from problem-solving and crime prevention initiatives within wards/boroughs to an intensified focus on forensic retrieval and partnership work with licensed venue operators.
It will include licensing inspections, enforcement of no drinking zones and rigorous spot checks carried out in high profile venues in collaboration with local authority licensing officers.
There will also be intelligence-led operations by specialist units to track down outstanding offenders who are alleged to have committed violence or who are wanted by the courts and it will also continue to focus on gang activity associated with violence.
Met police lead for the operation, Commander Lucy D'Orsi, said: "This operation encompasses a host of coordinated enforcement. Operation Equinox will continue to support victims of violent crime and will take a firm approach with those intent on committing violence."Officers are already planning activity to focus police activity on areas which have a disproportionately high amount of violent crime. This includes focusing on specific licenced premises and fast food outlets."London is one of the safest cities in the world and the MPS is determined to use all of its resources to stem the rise in violent crime and bring before the courts those who commit violence in communities.”
