The country’s most senior policeman has rebuffed the political fashion for likening Britain’s inner cities to The Wire, the critically acclaimed American drama.

Sir Paul Stephenson, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, said that the annual murder rate in London was two deaths per 100,000 of the population — compared with 35 per 100,000 in Baltimore, where the gritty gangland series is set.

The number of homicides in the city in the past six months has fallen by more than 30 compared with the same period in 2008. There were 67 in London between April 1 and October 26; in the same period last year there were 98.

“I still regret it is two per 100,000 population but we need to have a sensible discussion when we are making these comparisons,” Sir Paul said. “When people use these comparisons I want to put the figures in context.”

Chris Grayling, the Shadow Home Secretary, spoke of an “urban war” after a visit to the Moss Side district of Manchester in August. He said: “The Wire has become a part of real life in our country.”

His comments came after David Cameron, the Conservative leader, said that his wife preferred to stay at home and watch the series rather than attend public events.

Mr Grayling was criticised at the time because Greater Manchester Police was acknowledged to have had a big success in curbing gun crime and gang activity. But the topic was raised again last week when Scotland Yard revealed its ill-fated plan for armed police to carry out foot and motorcycle patrols in gun crime hotspots.

Jenny Jones, a Metropolitan Police Authority member, said that the proposal threatened a “Baltimore situation”.

Addressing the authority at it its monthly meeting, Sir Paul said that the murder rate comparisons strengthened his view that there was no need for his officers routinely to be armed or for armed patrols in troublespots.

He said that the announcement of armed patrolling had been made without his knowledge and had been “an error of judgment” by his officers. Sir Paul did concede, however, that there was a significant gun crime problem after an increase in shootings.

In the six months to the end of September, there were 237 shootings in London compared with 124 in the same period last year.

Murders account for a small proportion of the shootings but detectives have noted a rise in attacks intended to injure or intimidate — ranging from wounding in the legs and buttocks to shooting at homes and cars.

Commander Martin Hewitt told The Times: “We are seeing more lower limb woundings than before. Sometimes that is due to the gunman being a poor shot or the weapon being a poor and inaccurate conversion. But some shootings are deliberately trying not to kill — they are about making a point, intimidating someone, being seen to be doing something.”

Mr Hewitt said that there had been a shift from the use of guns for criminal activity, such as protecting drug markets, to “reputational” shootings.

“It is very noticeable that both the victims and the offenders are getting younger — the gunmen can be as young as 15, 16, 17 — and they are trying to establish a reputation among their peers,” he said.

“There is a propensity to use violence, extreme violence, and it is associated with preserving or establishing reputations and status.”

A problem for investigators is that almost half of those injured in gun attacks refuse to co-operate with the police.

Mr Hewitt said: “That has an instant impact on our ability to detect crime. We visit someone sitting in their hospital bed and they say, ‘I’m not going to talk to you’ or ‘I know who did it and I’m going to sort it out’. There is a dangerous tit-for-tat scenario developing there.”

Murder rates per 100,000 population

133 Ciudad Juárez, Mexico

130 Caracas, Venezuela

67 New Orleans

62 Cape Town

35 Baltimore

6 New York

2 London

Source: Foreign Policy Magazine; Times database

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