THE number of serious violent offences reported to police in Croydon rose by 33 per cent last year, in contrast to a reduction in overall crime.
Statistics released by the Met for each ward in Croydon show there were 0.8 per cent, or 212, fewer crimes reported in the borough last year.
The rise in violent crime in the borough was higher than the London average of 28 per cent.
But, as well as a striking rise in some of most serious violent and sexual offences, there were large reductions in burglaries, robberies and drug offences.
There were 2,022 more reports of "violence against the person," a figure which includes assaults, harassment and acts of grievous bodily harm (GBH).
Croydon borough commander Andy Tarrant said he thought the overall reduction in crime was "good news".
He admitted the spike in violent crime was "a lot", but said the increase was partly down to stricter rules brought in last April to ensure police recorded more lower-level violent crime, like common assaults. Reports of such assaults rose by 45 per cent last year.
Mark Watson, the council's cabinet member for safety and justice, said the rise in violent crime may be explained by increased confidence in people reporting domestic violence as well as violence resulting from the night-time economy.
"This is not people being attacked randomly in the street. If the ordinary person was to walk down the street, Croydon is quite safe.
"Some of [the rise] could be good because more people are coming forward and reporting domestic violence, so I think there is a caveat on that," he said.
"For domestic abuse, we do have a strategy in place, quite a robust strategy; we're probably one of the leading boroughs in trying to tackle domestic abuse at the moment. The other part of it is from the night time economy, concentrated in the town centre."
Overall, crime in Croydon was down by 0.8 per cent, with falls in burglary and robbery, but violent crime was up 33 per cent
The figures show much of the borough's crime – especially violent crime – takes place in the town centre.
Chief Supterintendent Tarrant said his force "recognised the challenges" around the town centre and was putting in place measure to tackle violence there.
"For example, now we have more police officers on duty on a Thursday, Friday and Saturday night," he said.
"We are working with the pubs and clubs, so we now have introduced breathalysers for those people that drink before they go out. They're now breathalysed before they go into a venue so they can be turned away if they're found to be drunk.
"We know there's a link between alcohol and violence so it's about tackling that."
Councillor Watson said he didn't want to deny there was a problem with violence in the town centre, but he believes part of the increase was down to police taking more action.
He said: "There are more officers at night time in the town centre now, so what may have happened in the past is a fight took place and they went home, it was unreported, with more officers it's more likely that action will be taken."
While there were four murders in the borough last year, the same as in 2013, the next most serious category of offence – wounding and GBH – increased by 33 per cent.
Interactive map showing crime in Croydon ward-by-ward in 2014. For more maps showing various crime types where you live click here
Chief Supt Tarrant pointed to accident and emergency figures which suggest that the numbers of people needing treatment for injuries from violent crimes is falling across London, but Cllr Watson said Croydon still had some problems with gang crime.
"There are still some issues with gang-related crime ," he said. "Of course not all of those [incidents] get reported to police either, because gang members are reluctant to deal with police.
"There are cases where people with stab wounds don't want to prosecute or get involved with the police at all, so there's probably some under-reporting there as well."
A total of 247 rapes were reported to police in 2014, up by 73. Chief Supt Chief Supt Tarrant said he wanted to build confidence in victims so more come forward.
"For those types of crimes, such as sexual offences, they are under reported and we need to have a better understanding of what is going on – we can offer a better service as a result of people telling us about crime."
Better mobile phone security, such as features which disable a stolen device mobile phone, had helped contribute to the borough's 43 per cent drop in robberies, according to Cllr Watson.
There were significantly fewer residential burglaries across the borough, though the data shows certain areas, including Heathfield, Broad Green and Coulsdon, were targeted by burglars.
Chief Supt Tarrant said "better policing tactics, better intelligence" and targeting so-called burglary hotspots had helped. "It's also about working with partners like the council, residents' associations and neighbourhood watch to make sure people are making their premises as secure as possible against burglary."
Despite the large falls in robbery and burglary, an end-of-year survey by the Advertiser, published last week, revealed 29 per cent of people did not feel safe in their own street, an increase on our results the year before. Crime was by far the most frequently chosen option when respondents listed their biggest concerns.
Chief Supt Chief Supt Tarrant said there were "misconceptions" about crime in Croydon.
"When I first came to the borough in July, I said that confidence in policing and reducing that fear of crime were key things that I wanted to tackle," he explained.
"So I take every opportunity that I can to go out, meet different communities, talk about the fact that crime is down. Actually, Croydon is safer than a lot of other boroughs in London.
"I think our job is to get out there and make people feel more confident in walking around their streets and in our ability to prevent and detect crime."
