Violent offenders may have been "encouraged" into committing more crime as police officer numbers have dropped by almost a tenth, a leaked document reveals.
Latest figures show violent crime is almost 40% higher than nine years ago in London, while bobbies are disappearing from the beat.
And there may be a link between rising crime rates and falling police numbers, the leaked Home Office documents suggest.
In the Metropolitan Police area, there were 196,034 'violence against the person' crimes reported in the year to September 2017 - a 39% rise from 141,027 reports in the 12 months up to September 2009.
However, over the same period the full-time equivalent number of police officers at the force has fallen by 8%, from 33,374 in September 2009 to 30,871 in September 2017 - a loss of 2,503 roles.
Knife crime in the news
'Underlying driver that has allowed the rise to continue'
The Guardian has reported that a document entitled 'Serious violence; latest evidence on the drivers' says that as crime demand has grown and officer numbers have fallen, "so resources dedicated to serious violence have come under pressure and charge rates have dropped. This may have encouraged offenders".
The document also says: "[It is] unlikely to be the factor that triggered the shift in serious violence, but may be an underlying driver that has allowed the rise to continue."
In the past year alone, London has seen a 3% rise in reported violent crime, up from 190,665 cases, while police officer numbers have dropped by 3% or 911 officers.
Across England and Wales, there was a 20% rise in violent crime, made up of violence against the person, both with and without injury, and homicide, in a year.
In the year ending September 2016, 1.08m violent crimes were reported, rising to 1.29m in the year ending September 2017.
Compared to the year ending September 2009, when there were 706,859 reports, numbers have more than doubled (a 114% rise) according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.
Over the same period, police forces across England and Wales have lost 22,155 officers, a 15% drop in numbers between September 2009 and September 2017, according to Home Office figures.
Numbers have dropped by 1% in the most recent figures, from 126,252 full-time equivalent officers in September 2016 to 125,364 in September 2017 - a loss of 888 officers.
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