Sir John Stevens, who retires next week.

Knife culture is becoming one of London's worst crime problems, outgoing police chief Sir John Stevens has warned.

In an interview with the Guardian, the Scotland Yard chief commissioner said the increasing fashion for carrying knives was "extremely worrying" and something that must be tackled head-on.

Statistics show an 18 per cent rise in knife-related crime last year.  Knives were used in 6,600 crimes in London in the 12 months to May 2004, 80 per cent of which were carried out by teenagers.

Sir John backed the use of small hand-held scanners in schools, outside pubs and clubs, and in trouble hotspots in a bid to combat the problem.

"The key to this is our neighbourhood policing teams," he said.

"It's not quite Dixon of Dock Green, but it's certainly more akin to the type of policing I remember when I started on the beat in 1962."

Stevens retires next Monday after a 43 year career in policing and five years in the top job.

He will be succeeded by his deputy, Sir Ian Blair, with Lancashire chief constable Paul Stephenson taking up the post of deputy commissioner.

Racism charges

When he first took the helm at the Met, the force was reeling from charges of institutional racism in the wake of the murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence.

Sir John has been credited with combating racism in the Met but he admits there is still a long way to go.

"We were the first organisation in the country to be found guilty of institutional racism and gross negligence in a murder investigation, but everyone accepts we have moved on light years from Lawrence," he said.

"We've doubled the number of ethnic minority officers in the Met in last four years - to almost seven per cent.

"But no one can be satisfied with that. We need to get it up to 15 to 20 per cent as soon as possible, and we have enough people wanting to join the Met to do that."

Threat of terrorism

International terrorism has also demanded close attention from the Met chief. 

He had "absolutely no regrets" about his warning last March that a major terror attack on London was "inevitable".

"I told it as it is, there can be no complacency," he said. 

"Our job is to thwart these attacks and the fact that we have stopped eight potential atrocities demonstrates how well we are doing."

Muslim relationship

Another challenge for Sir John has been to increase trust between the Met and the Muslim community.

Despite the recent high profile terror arrests, he insisted the relationship with British Muslims was largely positive.

"I've spent time visiting mosques, meeting local representatives, and it's essential that my successor continues this," he told the Guardian.