00:00According to Sir Mark, the toughening of knife crime and firearms legislation has helped reduce serious crime over the last
00:0825 years.
00:10But he added an overloaded justice system is not executing on the back of those laws in the same way
00:18as the government has to make difficult choices based on prison capacity and other areas.
00:25He said the force is seeing rapidly reducing imprisonment for people sentenced for knife crime offences, knife crime possession, even
00:34repeat knife carriers.
00:36He referred to one recent example of an individual who tried to take what resembled a small sword, said to
00:43be around 18 inches long, into Notting Hill Carnival.
00:47Sir Mark said it was this particular individual's fourth knife offence of this year.
00:53However, he added the man has been bailed again.
00:57Sir Mark said the force is also seeing the same pattern with firearm offences.
01:03According to Sir Mark, there are around 34 cases of individuals charged with firearms offences in the city who are
01:11on bail, all pending trial.
01:14He said that in nine of those cases, the accused had fired shots in confrontation.
01:20Sir Mark said that a few years ago, before the justice system was struggling, this just wouldn't have happened.
