Responding to the Met Police’s announcement of targeted patrols taking place across London after thousands of women reported feeling unsafe in public areas, Nick Bowes, Chief Executive at Centre for London said: 

“It’s no surprise that women have reported feeling unsafe on the streets of London, and that the majority of the 3,272 reports to the Met’s StreetSafe online reporting tool relate to poor street lighting and CCTV coverage.”

“However, we must ensure that the city gets to grips with solving the issues of lighting and security surveillance highlighted by the respondents, rather than hoping additional police staffing can rectify these problems. Our 2021 report, Seeing clearly: How lighting can make London a better city, emphasised that, while an obvious solution would be to install brighter lighting, the evidence that this supports safer streets is mixed.”