Four violent crimes take place every day on the streets of Enfield, according to new figures.

Statistics from the Metropolitan Police website show an increase of 29 per cent in the number of violent crimes in the borough during the past 12 months.

The figure includes domestic violence as well as violence on the streets, with violence with injuries offences rising to 5,804 from 4,516 in January 2014.

There were several major incidents in the borough in 2014 including the stabbing of John Barry outside his home on The Broadway, Edmonton and the beheading of Palmira Silva outside her house in Nightingale Road, Edmonton.

In a breakdown of violent crimes, there has been an increase of 37 per cent of domestic violence cases, from 678 to 929.

However, Superintendent Carl Robinson does not necessarily believe this is a bad thing.

He said: “This figure is split into domestic abuse cases, for which Enfield borough has been pushing hard for more victims of domestic violence to report cases to us, and this has seen the largest rise of 37 per cent.”

“We additionally have a positive arrest policy and this is especially important for domestic abuse cases where the victim will sometimes be reluctant to come forward to police for fear of reprisals and other reasons.”

The number of violent crimes in a public place has jumped from 1,124 to 1,412 cases a year; the fourth highest of all London boroughs.

Supt Robinson believes violence is Enfield’s “biggest challenge” and last month launched Operation Equinox in an attempt to cut crime.

He said: “Enfield police have launched Operation Equinox as their response against violence with injury. On a daily basis a superintendent chairs a meeting to look at the intelligence picture and recorded crime picture in relation to violence and is able to send resources to the areas of greatest need.”

Despite the alarming figures, Supt Robinson was pleased with the overall drop in all crimes by 0.4 per cent.

“Categories within this which have shown significant reductions are burglary 12.4 per cent reduction, robbery 17.1 per cent reduction, theft of and from motor vehicles 30 per cent reduction and theft from the person 22.8 per cent reduction.”

Joan Ryan, Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Enfield North, believes the closure of police stations in the past five years has caused in the increase.

She said: “The extent of the rise in violent crime in Enfield will concern all residents.

“Unfortunately, under this Tory-led Government and Tory London Mayor we have seen broken promises on the protection of police numbers and big cuts made to the police service in our area. We can’t afford to lose any more police officers or PCSOs, given the surge in violent crime. Securing the safety of our community should prioritise cuts to the police.”

Enfield North MP Nick de Bois said: "Overall crime is down but domestic violence against women is hideous and I think it's right we do all we can to help victims report these crimes - and if that means the crime statistics look worse then so be it, I won't engage in tit for tat party politics on such an important matter."