Islington Police has best emergency response times in London, figures show

Officers responded to 93 per cent of emergency graded calls within 15 minutes in the year to September, despite being underfunded.

The data was presented at the annual crime and safety scrutiny committee earlier this month, where it was revealed Islington has the highest rate of moped crime in London, even though its fallen by 63.5 per cent in a year.

The borough's crime chief Cllr Andy Hull told the Gazette: "We have made real progress on a number of fronts this past year, for which Islington Police deserve some credit. They have the best response times in London. Their neighbourhood teams are now fully staffed. They have set up problem solving and intelligence teams to enhance the analysis on which their operations are based. The results are starting to show."

Knife crime offences in Islington are down in by 10.3pc as of September, compared to the year before, while London saw a 13.8pc rise.

Similarly, drug-related crimes fell by 12.4pc in Islington over the same period, while there was a 24.1pc spike across the capital.

Cllr Hull added:"The number of young people stabbed in Islington is down by a quarter. Drugs offences are down across the borough, bucking the city-wide trend.

"The area around Finsbury Park is beginning to show signs of improvement. As ever, there is more work to do, but these are all steps in the right direction to make our borough a safer place."

Knife crime offences for under 25s in Islington are also down by 26,5pc in the past year, outperforming the rest of London.

Islington Police currently has a full house of 66 neighbourhoods police constables across the borough's 16 wards, not including Sgts, PCSOs and 13 safer schools officers.

But there's been an 8pc rise in the number of sexual offences in the past year, rising from 616 to 665, while there have also been small increases in recorded burglaries, theft and public order offences.