Scotland Yard says a new unit combining the policing of roads and public transport will help increase Londoners’ safety and confidence.
The Met’s Roads and Transport Policing Command (RTPC) brings together functions previously carried out by two separate teams and was formed as part of the force’s efforts to meet budget cuts.
Like the now defunct Safer Transport Command, RTPC will be jointly funded by the Met and Transport for London.
Commander Stephen Watson said: “Much has already been achieved through our joint efforts and we are confident that this new and fully integrated command will enable us to build on a legacy of success.”
He added that the new unit would work “to reduce further the number of people killed or seriously injured in collisions on our roads” in additional to tackling crime and anti-social behaviour on public transport.
London Assembly member Jenny Jones says the force needs to do more to catch and punish those responsible for road deaths.
She commented: “Nearly a fifth of people injured or killed in collisions in London are hit and runs, which indicates to me that we have a culture of lawless roads. Cuts to the traffic police have reduced the number of officers in recent years, when we actually needed an expansion.
“I hope the Mayor will get the police to refocus resources on road crime and end the scandal of over a thousand pedestrians being killed or injured as a result of hit and runs.”
