A senior Harrow councillor said he is “proud” to see the borough have one of the lowest crime rates in London.

Cllr Krishna Suresh, who is responsible for crime and community cohesion at Harrow Council, told an overview and scrutiny committee on Tuesday (December 7) that it has the second-lowest crime rate in the capital, behind only Richmond.

According to a council report highlighting the number of offences from October 2019 to October 2020, there were 61.7 crimes per 100,000 people in Harrow.

Cllr Suresh said that on the whole this was an achievement the council, local police, and the voluntary sector could be proud of, but noted there is still work to be done in certain areas.

“This year has been unprecedented in that police officers have not only had to combat crime in Harrow, but also deal with Covid-19 legislation,” he said.

“They’ve done an amazing job and, looking at the crime data, we’ve done well in 2020.”

The council still seeks to tackle four key crime issues in the borough – burglary, anti-social behaviour, non-domestic violence with injury, and motor vehicle crime.

There is also a need to improve victim satisfaction with the police in north-west London – levels dropped from the highest in the city in the first quarter of the year to below average in the second quarter.

Cllr Suresh said there has been a reduction across all the target areas this year, influenced by the Covid-19 pandemic which has led to a wider decrease of crime levels.

Council officers noted this is a “very unique set of circumstances” and it will be difficult to apply all lessons learnt once things return to normal.

However, they said they would continue to work with the police to ensure Harrow maintains its position as a relatively low-crime borough.