Ken: If it bleeds, it quite rightly leads!

Market research suggests that stories of crime and violence increase the ratings for news. This isn’t the fault of the news organizations, broadcasters, reporters and the like. This is surely the responsibility of the people entrusted to protect us.
When they don’t people find the results interesting, indeed necessary. So for Ken Livingstone, the man who appears to have no answers to make London safer, to say "if it bleeds, it leads" the news shows not just gross insensitivity to the families of two teenagers stabbed to death in the UK capital, but complete contempt for his duty as Mayor.
It is hardly surprising therefore that Livingstone’s 15-point crime manifesto launch was overshadowed as Boris Johnson demanded that he stop using the "crass" phrase to attack the capital's TV stations for reporting murders. Among Livingstone’s crime policies are: an 1,000 extra police officers next year to boost counter-terrorism work and local Safer Neighbourhood Team; extra cash for specialist police teams investigating rape in every borough; 11 new Safer Transport Teams focusing on stopping crime and anti-social behaviour on buses, more resources for targeted police operations against gangs and £79 million to fund facilities and activities for young people.
However, just hours after 17-year-old Devoe Roach was stabbed in the chest in Stamford Hill, Mr Livingstone appeared on BBC London to accuse the media of sensationalising killings in the capital, repeating a phrase he used to the Home Affairs select committee this month.
After his live televised interview at 6.20 last night, it emerged another teenager, 14-year-old Amro Elbadawi, was knifed in the throat in Maida Vale.
Some 27 young Londoners were murdered last year, but the Mayor insists the murder rate is falling and accuses the media of failing to report the drops. Boris has quite rightly accused Mr Livingstone of "crass insensitivity" to the families of those involved.
In his own statement on crime Boris says: “ Londoners are told that crime is going down. They are reassured that there are more police on the streets, and that more money is being spent on security. Yet most Londoners don't feel any safer because every day the headlines tell a different story.
“If we look up from the newspaper we feel no safer; on the top decks of buses, on station platforms and street corners a culture of incivility and adolescent anarchy has been allowed to spread, unchallenged.
“It is the Mayor's first duty to ensure the safety and security of all Londoners and his second to reassure them that they truly are safe, to offer an antidote to the apprehension that darkens every late-night bus ride or walk home.
“This is not an area in which we should throw our hands up in defeat, blaming violent video games or a decline in moral values. I want everyone in this city to have the optimism and confidence that goes with increased safety and will use all the powers at my disposal to achieve it:
• We have to work with the police and communities to prevent young Londoners becoming victims of gang violence. I will give support to the wonderful work of local community projects that get young people off the streets and give them purpose and a realisation of their value as members of society. I will provide £2.6 million to fund hand-held scanners or new knife archways at transport hubs to hinder the mobility of those who carry knives and guns.
• The police do a brave and difficult job, but they are burdened by bureaucracy. Too much time and money is spent on form-filling, when it could be used to employ more police on the beat. I will lobby for an end to the stop and account form - this would mean that police could spend an extra 160,048 hours on the beat - the equivalent of adding 78 new officers to the force.
• We must stand up for our brave, hard-working police men and women to ensure they get a fair deal from government.
• I will provide local neighbourhoods with New York-style crime maps, to enable residents to hold local police to account.
• More people are travelling by bus that at anytime since the 1960s, but they are increasingly intimidated by antisocial behaviour. I will double the strength of Safer Transport Teams, by releasing funding for approximately 440 extra PCSOs to patrol the buses and trial live CCTV. I will give revenue inspectors more powers to tackle fare evasion.
• Those who abuse their free transport privileges will be able to earn back their free Oyster by doing community service as part of my Payback London scheme.
• I will provide funding for 3 new Rape Crisis Centres to help the forgotten victims of sexual violence.”