Street crime is on the increase - and in verdant boroughs like wealthy Richmond upon Thames, this trend is given as high a profile as in the rest of the country.

But the present Home Secretary, David Blunkett, who seems determined to make his mark with a series of right wing declarations, may regret his ultimatum to the Metropolitan Police this week.

His threat that they must cut street crime or face a takeover by government appointed managers smells at worst of jackboot dictatorship and at least of shallow thinking.

All concerned with crime and punishment have acknowledged that the fact that street crime is rising while other offences are falling is due to the extraordinary affluence bestowed upon the young.

Mobile phones, gold chains, Gameboys and other expensive toys put new temptation in the way of the wayward and immature.

The stakes are much higher now that the squabbles are not over sixer conkers, a bag of marbles or a set of cigarette cards, but a piece of technology which might cost a quarter of their parents' weekly wage or a pair of grossly overpriced designer trainer shoes marketed on the basis of an attractive logo.

The vast majority of muggings and robberies take place outside homes or schools and involve the under 18s who are carrying around the kind of valuables that were unknown to previous generations.

David Blunkett is in danger of creating a destructive climate of fear by suggesting that the streets are becoming unsafe for residents to use when in fact it is a wave of juvenile delinquency - crimes committed by the young upon the young - that is at the heart of our current crisis.

Police alone cannot reduce crime and, indeed, if pressurised may start arresting the wrong people for the wrong reasons and filling our already overcrowded young offenders' institutions with even more candidates for apprenticeships as professional criminals.

Poor housing, unemployment, inadequate education, insidious television advertising and the gospel of materialism all play their part in encouraging lawlessness among the callow and the ingenuous.

To expect police to deal with this effectively without active involvement of other agencies is unfair and irresponsible.

Even the zero tolerance policing introduced in New York was allied closely with social welfare services to ensure that areas that were targeted were also given some positive support and help.

It was only last month that Richmond upon Thames's acting borough commander, Superintendent Mark Toland pointed out that, although robberies had increased dramatically, the majority did not involve violence and were for petty sums like £2.

And Richmond upon Thames, he said, still has the least street crime of any London borough, but youth on youth crimes are by far the most common.

What we are seeing is a sinister extension of harassment and bullying that has always occurred on council estates and outside senior schools and colleges of higher education and it is here that our energies should be directed.

As one of our correspondents, Ros Barber pointed out on our letters page recently, consideration should be given to huge establishments like Richmond upon Thames College, contributing substantially to the funding of police officers and CCTV cameras.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK ...

"I was shocked to read in the current Liberal Democrat Comments that Cambridge Park is to become a bus route... and this tranquil backwater will be ruined for ever."

- Weatherman Michael Fish, in a letter to neighbours in affluent Cambridge Park, Twickenham