Story by Joe Acklam

The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has announced he is going to invest a further £8.5 million in the Metropolitan Police to help tackle violence and raise the standard of policing. 

Khan is proposing that the funding is given to the Met and Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime to tackle drug supply lines, provide additional training to leaders and line managers in the Met, and increase the work of the Violence Reduction. 

This is in addition to Khan's Draft Budget, which he announced last month, which included £14.2 million to raise standards, improve the performance of the police, and add the 500 new Police Community Support Officers to work in neighbourhoods disproportionately impacted by crime. 

Khan, said: "I'm committed to doing all I can to tackle violent crime and to make our city safer, and I'm proud to have invested record sums from City Hall to support the work of the police. 

"We are seeing real progress with serious violence down in our capital since 2016, bucking the national trend, and a new Commissioner introducing vital reforms to the Met – but there is much more to do.  

"This new City Hall funding will help to build on our work to tackle crime, further supporting my Violence Reduction Unit in tackling the complex causes of violence, creating more opportunities for young people and assisting the Commissioner in his urgent work to transform the culture of the Met. 

"The safety of Londoners is my top priority, and this funding is another example of my commitment to building a safer London for everyone." 

This new funding breaks down so that £2.25 million will go into tackling drug-related crime; £1.5 million to the Violence Reduction Unit to support grassroots organisations; £1.5 million to the Violence Reduction Unit for extending the IRIS programme in seven boroughs; and £3.3 million for supporting Sir Mark Rowley's work to raise standards. 

Rowley said: "At the Met we are finding new ways to tackle violence, we have already made great progress closing in on London's worst and most prolific offenders. 

"Violence is rarely carried out in isolation - drugs gangs exploit the vulnerable and use violence to intimidate and sexually exploit others. 

"As part of a new initiative called Operation Yamata, we have arrested more than 140 people for drug supply offences, charging 96% of them with 393 drug trafficking charges - dismantling their criminal operations and taking over 60 weapons and £280,000 cash off the streets. 

"88% of those we've charged under Yamata have been previously arrested for violence offences. 

"Our Yamata Teams have already dismantled over 200 city lines in London. Yamata builds on the successes of our Op Orochi County Lines Taskforce, who this year have dismantled 525 County Lines, arresting 595 offenders and charging 87 per cent of them. 

"25 of those offenders charged by Orochi for drugs trafficking offences this financial year had been previously arrested for homicide."