Online Watch Link (Owl) allowed Metropolitan Police officers to share local crime information and advice directly with Londoners, reports Noah Vickers, Local Democracy Reporter

Sadiq Khan with police officers (credit GLA)

Sadiq Khan has faced questions over his office’s decision to end funding for an online platform which alerted Londoners to crimes in their area and provided advice from police.

The closure of the Online Watch Link (Owl) platform was raised shortly by London Assembly members after the Labour mayor was told by the Tories’ Susan Hall that “large numbers” of crimes have been “effectively decriminalised” in London.

Khan in turn accused Hall of “crocodile tears and mock anger”, saying she and her party colleagues had been “silent” while he lobbied the previous Conservative government to reverse funding cuts to the police and youth clubs.

In a decision notice signed in March by Khan’s then-policing deputy, Sophie Linden, it was revealed that the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (Mopac) would cease funding for Owl at the end of October.

The system allowed the Metropolitan Police to share information and advice directly with Londoners, with crime alerts, prevention tips and good news stories sent via email.

In November, the London Assembly unanimously passed a motion calling on Mopac to reverse the decision, arguing that the platform has proved a “trusted and effective source of local intelligence and reassurance for Londoners”.

Khan was asked at Mayor’s Question Time on Thursday (19th) by Reform UK assembly member Alex Wilson: “Why was Mopac so keen to enforce the decision to close Owl before a suitable replacement has been developed and launched?”

Linden’s decision notice had stated that the Met would seek to “procure and embed a new pan-London neighbourhood safety communication system” before closing Owl.

Khan suggested the decision was enforced, despite the apparent lack of a replacement, due to funding priorities, saying: “We considered all these issues of budgets in the round.

“When it comes to setting the budget for next year, we’re consulting on the budget. I’d encourage him [Wilson] to respond to the consultation that Mopac has put out.”

Looking ahead to the new year, the mayor later added: “It’s open to him [Wilson] to put down a budget amendment to try and find the resources to invest in [Online] Watch Link, or other similar processes.”

In a tweet afterwards, the Reform member said the closure of Owl meant “Christmas has come early for London’s burglars”.

Earlier in the meeting, Khan was challenged on his record tackling crime by Tory assembly member Hall, who he defeated in this year’s mayoral election.

She called his record “absolutely appalling”, adding: “There have been 64,000 burglaries across London in the last year, but just 3,700 have actually been solved – that’s not even six per cent.

“Given how few cases are being solved and how few criminals are actually being brought to justice, do you agree that we’ve effectively decriminalised large numbers of offences taking place in our city?”

The Met Police’s online dashboard puts the number of burglaries in London between November 2023 and November 2024 at 59,137, with “positive outcomes” for only 3,441 of those cases, or roughly 5.8%.

Responding, the mayor pointed out that the total number of burglaries recorded in London in the last year was roughly 20% lower than during the previous mayor Boris Johnson’s final year in office.

He said: “Over the last eight years, while I’ve been lobbying for more resources from the government, that side [the assembly’s Conservative group] have been quiet. While I’ve been calling out the consequences of austerity, that side have been quiet.

“When I’ve been explaining that if you pull funding from youth clubs and youth centres and councils, don’t be surprised if young people get sucked into crime, that side have stayed silent.”

Khan also insisted that London is a significantly safer place than many other global cities, and said he was “determined” to work with the government “to reduce crime even further”.

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