I live among an estimated 10,000 others on the waterways of London and we are all very concerned about an sharp increase in violent crime on London's Towpaths. With weekly muggings that are getting increasingly more violent an already marginalized community are beginning to live in constant fear. 

With an already overstretched Police Force we are finding it more and more difficult to get any direct action. The Muggers are operation without fear of getting caught and are getting more brazen.

We as a community have already started our own neighbourhood watch style group called canalwatch and I personally run a crime survey keeping tally on hotspots etc. and passing this information on. 

We would like to see more police on the towpaths in the hotspots and also possibly a liaison Officer who we know we have a direct route to as much crime is just recorded with a crime number and  no further investigation. It should also be noted that it isn't just boaters at risk, but all towpath and canal users - this at a time of huge promotion by The Canal and River Trust as the waterways being a place of wellbeing. Sadly many of feel nothing could be further from the truth.