Newham’s top police officer has denied claims that more than 80 per cent of the borough’s crime is going unsolved.

Ch Supt Rob Jones, Newham borough commader dismissed claims by London Assembly Memner John Biggs that more than 80 per cent of the crime committed in the borough is going unsolved.

Mr Biggs quoted new research that shows that police are solving less crime since Boris Johnson became Mayor and that Newham is well below the UK average for solved crime.

In Newham, 19 per cent of crimes were solved in 2012/13 compared to the UK average of 27 per cent. This amounts to 81 per cent unsolved crimes in Newham last year.

In Newham, 26 per cent were solved whereas this year it was down to 19 per cent. The figures come from the London Datastore created by the Greater London Authority.

Mr Biggs said these revelations come at a time when fewer crimes are being reported to the police and when Newham has lost 44 police officers and 89 PCSOs since May 2010.

Mr Biggs said: “It is shocking that overall reported crime is down yet the number of unsolved crimes in Newham is up to 81 per cent. Boris talks big about reported crime going down, but so far he has ignored that the number of crimes actually solved on his watch has plummeted.”

Mr Jones said: “This is a mis-representation of what is really happening in the way policing is improving lives for people living in Newham.

“Crime is down in Newham compared to last year by over 10 per cent, over 3000 less victims.

“We are committed to a number of operations to improve crime reductions as well as detections such as the renewed Operation Bumblebee for burglary and Operation Hawk for drug crime. Officers from Newham pursue all appropriate leads to solve crime including asking the community to help by broadcasting on a local radio station and publishing witness appeals in our local newspaper.

“The comparison with a 26 per cent detection rate five years ago is misleading. In previous years, what appeared to be strong detection levels was artificially inflated by crime detections for cannabis possession. This had the unintended effect of criminalizing a disproportionate number of young men, and I think it was right that we reflected upon the harm that caused and concentrated instead on solving the crimes that cause the most harm - burglary, drug supply, robbery, gangs and domestic violence.”