:00:16. > :00:21.Good evening. Crime in London has fallen with new figures showing that
:00:22. > :00:24.nearly 50,000 fewer offences were reported last year compared to the
:00:25. > :00:26.previous 12 months. But critics claim the figures are misleading
:00:27. > :00:32.after a string of recent allegations attacking the reliability of
:00:33. > :00:40.Metropolitan Police statistics. Here is our home affairs correspondent
:00:41. > :00:46.Guy Smith. These have been the challenges
:00:47. > :00:50.facing the Met, robbery, burglary, violence and even murder. And this
:00:51. > :00:56.has been part of the answer according to the Met, three years of
:00:57. > :01:00.highly visible police operations across London targeting specific
:01:01. > :01:06.problems and it seems to be working. Total crime is down in the past year
:01:07. > :01:14.by more than 6%. Robberies have fallen by a fifth, burglaries by
:01:15. > :01:22.8%. Gun crime has dropped by 17%. Knife crime also has decreased. If
:01:23. > :01:24.we look at the worst crime of all, murder, then compared to other
:01:25. > :01:31.capital cities, London is relatively safe. In particular Ealing, crying
:01:32. > :01:37.falling here by more than 14%. There are a lot of robberies around here.
:01:38. > :01:46.I see a lot around. I feel safe in Ealing. I think we have had more
:01:47. > :01:51.police on patrol. It is welcome crime seems to be falling, but it
:01:52. > :01:56.differs across each borough. But the issue is how we are tackling crime
:01:57. > :02:02.and whether we are solving crime. When you look at those figures only
:02:03. > :02:07.one in six is solved in London. But the bigger problem is trust in how
:02:08. > :02:14.police record crime. This officer accused the Met of routinely
:02:15. > :02:19.muddling the figures. Things were being reported as burglaries and we
:02:20. > :02:22.ran the same report and there had been a human intervention by
:02:23. > :02:30.management and those burglaries had disappeared. Recorded crime has
:02:31. > :02:34.fallen dramatically, so you cannot make 7000 robberies disappear. You
:02:35. > :02:40.can't make 8000 burglaries disappear. If you took burglary as
:02:41. > :02:45.an example, even if you do not trust our figures, most people have to
:02:46. > :02:52.report it to an insurance company. Yet he did admit, that there was
:02:53. > :02:58.concern, as did his boss earlier this year. We have accepted there
:02:59. > :03:01.are more things to do. A Parliamentary select committee
:03:02. > :03:06.report criticised the police for being less than honest. Ultimately
:03:07. > :03:15.inaccurate figures gives an inaccurate picture of where crime is
:03:16. > :03:22.taking place. Katharine Carpenter has been looking at the figures. How
:03:23. > :03:25.much of a problem is it? It is important the integrity of the
:03:26. > :03:31.figures. A force that once people to trust it needs to prove it is
:03:32. > :03:36.keeping to its side of the bargain. Reliable figures are important to
:03:37. > :03:42.the Met as well. It is under huge pressure to drive down overall crime
:03:43. > :03:47.by 20%. To do that it needs to build up a true picture and know where it
:03:48. > :04:04.is going to target valuable and scarce resources. There are plenty
:04:05. > :04:07.of non`sinister reasons why figures are not always 100% accurate. A lot
:04:08. > :04:09.of crime is not reported and the Home Office has recategorised some
:04:10. > :04:12.crimes, so it is difficult to draw up a picture of crime trends. But
:04:13. > :04:14.the people who are the victims of crime need to know their experiences
:04:15. > :04:17.are being properly recorded and processed.
:04:18. > :04:22.Talks aimed at averting Tube strikes next week and the week after have so
:04:23. > :04:25.far failed to make any progress. Workers are currently due to walk
:04:26. > :04:27.out next Monday over proposed ticket office closures, which London
:04:28. > :04:33.Underground claim will improve customer service. Our transport
:04:34. > :04:38.correspondent Tom Edwards reports. This dispute is disrupted the Tube
:04:39. > :04:43.in February. Now the same thing could happen again. This afternoon
:04:44. > :04:49.unions and transport bosses met to try and avert another strike. This
:04:50. > :04:54.is about modernising the Tube, providing increased benefits to our
:04:55. > :04:59.customers, getting more face to face contact with our customers. Instead
:05:00. > :05:04.of people being behind glass, we want people out on the front line
:05:05. > :05:10.helping customers. London Underground wants to close all
:05:11. > :05:16.ticket offices and cut 950 jobs. It claims it has made the changes for
:05:17. > :05:21.the staff there. The RMT union disputes that and says cutting jobs
:05:22. > :05:26.will affect safety. A strike is planned for next Monday for two days
:05:27. > :05:30.and the following week for three days. There has been a change of
:05:31. > :05:36.language from London Underground in an open letter to Londoners.
:05:37. > :05:39.It says stations will become personalised customer service
:05:40. > :05:44.centres and we cannot stand by and for its customers to pay for a
:05:45. > :05:49.ticket offices through their fares. What is interesting with the RMT
:05:50. > :05:55.leadership up for grabs, some are saying that election could play a
:05:56. > :06:02.part in these negotiations. Do you think it will have an impact, the
:06:03. > :06:05.leadership? None whatsoever. This is a dispute about the London
:06:06. > :06:10.Underground and the staff who work on it. It is what it has been about
:06:11. > :06:17.since the 21st of November when the Underground told us they had to save
:06:18. > :06:21.?4.2 billion and they had to close every London Underground ticket
:06:22. > :06:29.office. All staff had to reapply for their jobs. This is the first wave.
:06:30. > :06:34.These talks will go on all week. If it is not resolved, expect much more
:06:35. > :06:39.of this from Monday night. It just leaves me to hand you over to
:06:40. > :06:47.Wembley for the weather. As Wendy.
:06:48. > :06:53.We will not completely escape the showers. Any showers we have seen
:06:54. > :07:01.late afternoon will fizzle out tonight. We may have a few missed or
:07:02. > :07:06.fog patches forming here or there. Temperatures will be eight or nine
:07:07. > :07:11.degrees in urban areas, so it is a mild night. We start the day
:07:12. > :07:16.tomorrow with plenty of cloud drifting to and fro. We will see
:07:17. > :07:21.some sunny spells and there will be a breeze from the South East. It
:07:22. > :07:28.will be 18 degrees in London, and that might trigger off a few showers
:07:29. > :07:32.in the afternoon. This whether Frank is moving through, but the outlook
:07:33. > :07:42.is not looking too bad. That's weather front.
:07:43. > :07:45.It is never too early to think about next weekend and I will be doing
:07:46. > :07:46.that in a couple of