CRIME is rising in Redbridge because criminals from neighbouring areas believe the borough is a soft touch, according to police.

Bucking the London-wide trend, Redbridge has seen figures for street crime and burglaries rise because, according to the borough's police chiefs, areas like Newham and Waltham Forest have been given the lion's share of extra resources.

The borough's commander Chief Superintendent John Boylin was given a grilling on the figures by his boss, Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) Chairman Lord Toby Harris, at a recent meeting.

Mr Boylin said that two large demonstrations in September and October meant that Redbridge officers were seconded away from the borough which allowed crime to rise.

But Lord Harris asked: "The absences will have been felt by most other boroughs and the trend across London is for crime to come down. What are the unique factors in Redbridge?"

Superintendent Bryan Horsley pointed out that the extra money given to police in neighbouring Newham and Waltham Forest under the Safer Streets initiative meant that they had the manpower to cover demonstrations and that crime was displaced to Redbridge.

He said: "The demonstrations in September and October left us with no-one on the ground doing pro-active work. A total of 60 per cent of our borough's crime comes from other boroughs."

Redbridge has 427 serving officers compared with more than 700 in Newham.

In the period from April to December 2002, 1,099 street crimes were reported but this figure rose to 1,168 for the same period of 2003. Burglaries rose from 2,180 to 2,230, but the total number of offences fell from 21,806 to 21,232.

Mr Boylin said: "We sit on the doorstep of Waltham Forest and Newham and when they sneeze we catch a cold."

Lord Harris, who was paying his fourth visit to Redbridge in his role as Chairman of the MPA, said: "The question of crime being exported from Newham has also been raised by your colleagues in Barking and Dagenham."

He added that the MPA intended to see the number of London officers grow to 35,000 from its current total of 30,000 and that the Redbridge officers would be "ringfenced". He said: "The MPA is starting to monitor extractions but this is an issue that affects every borough."