RICHMOND upon Thames has given up its claim to be the safest borough in the capital after the number of crimes reported increased by nearly ten per cent last year.

According to figures released by Scotland Yard this week, a total of 16,057 crimes were committed in the borough between April 2001 and March this year - a 9.35 per cent increase on the previous year.

The most worrying trend was a 70 per cent increase in violent crime, largely due to an increase in mobile phone thefts in the area.

In contrast, the crime level in neighbouring Kingston upon Thames fell by 3.19 per cent over the same period, with a total of 13,811 reported crimes - challenging Richmond's reputation for having the least crime in the capital.

In Hounslow, 29,929 crimes were committed over the same period.

The borough's comm-ander, Chief Superintendent Richard Gargini, said: "In real terms Richmond has a fairly low rate of crime and though any percentage increase is not acceptable, Richmond upon Thames currently averages one robbery a day.

"There's been an overall reduction in burglary. However, we're not complacent in tackling any increase and we have a proactive burglary and robbery focus desk whose aim is to use intelligence-led policing to identify and apprehend criminals targeting our borough.

"We are working proactively with schools in relation to mobile phone property marking as these thefts contribute to a large majority of the increase in street robbery in the borough.

"We also have a proactive community team who will be addressing all anti-social behaviour and continue to do so during the next 12 months."

But local MPs are calling for a greater police presence on the borough's streets, claiming that this alone could reverse the trend.

Richmond Park MP Jenny Tonge said: "We just belong to an increasingly lawless society which is affecting places like Richmond upon Thames as much as everywhere else.

"The problem will get worse not better, because we have fewer police in the borough. It is still a major deterrent to see police on the street. I was speaking to someone in Barnes recently, where they haven't seen a policeman for four years!

"Hopefully Ken Livingstone's levy on council tax will mean that we will see more police and more police auxiliaries in the area. I think it's very depressing that our society is becoming more and more lawless and it actually links in with the drugs debate too, because drug related offences account for a lot of the crime we see."

Twickenham MP Vincent Cable said: "The figures are very disturbing and they correspond to the feedback I get from residents that the police presence in the borough is totally unsatisfactory.

"The formula for allocating police resources is completely stupid and we've been very badly let down by the Greater London Authority, which has decided that we are entitled to very little police resources despite the fact that a lot of people come into the borough from areas where there are social problems, such as Hanworth and Hammersmith, because they've heard that there is no local police presence.

"The police themselves made a very serious mistake in stopping beat police officers in the borough and this has given the impression that police have no control over the streets and provides an incentive for people to go out and commit crime."