VIOLENT crime has soared in Camden despite an overall fall in the number of crimes committed, figures released on Friday show.
The number of rapes, sexual assaults, muggings, gun crimes and murders all rose last year, with violent incidents increasing by 19 per cent on 2003 levels.
Violence now figures in 17 per cent of all recorded crime in Camden, with more than 7,500 violent incidents last year.
Overall there was an 11 per cent drop in recorded crimes, down to 45,432 – around 125 crimes a day.
Heavy drops in car crime and snatch thefts accounted for the biggest falls.
Borough Commander Mark Heath welcomed the overall fall but described the violent crime figures as a “concern”.
He insisted changes to the way they were calculated had inflated the scale of the problem. Pointing to a new counting method that sees a single attack on three victims counted three times instead of one, and stressing that the majority of violent incidents were minor, he said: “I’m not complacent about violent crime. A lot goes on around drinking in Camden Town and that is something we are working on with licensees and the council.
“One premises, which I’m not prepared to name, had a problem with violent crime in its vicinity but since we’ve worked with them we haven’t had a call in six months.
“With safer neighbourhoods and all the partnership working we are better equipped to deal with violent crime than we ever have been.”