Foreword
London is increasingly finding itself with a new national and international reputation. Not for our capital city’s cultural life, or its long and unique history, its array of shops, theatres, parks or attractions, or its bustling economic activity as a global financial hub. That should be what comes to mind when we picture our capital city.
Instead, London finds itself recognised as the theft capital of the world. There is now a widespread perception that if you are in the city, be it as a Londoner going about your everyday business, a commuter heading to work, or a tourist visiting our city, there is a distinct possibility that you will find yourself the victim of a crime.
Given the increase in violent crime over the last eight years, much of the attention has, understandably, been centred around knives, guns and gangs, and the devastating consequences of this criminality. Against this backdrop, low-level crime in London has quietly been allowed to reach epidemic proportions. Theft, shoplifting, burglary, and business robbery have all increased significantly over the last eight years.
Being a victim of one of these crimes is, in numerical terms, the most common way you are likely to interact with the Metropolitan Police Service. Many Londoners have experienced having their phone or bike stolen and reporting the crime to the Met, sometimes with its live tracked location, only to find the case closed in less than twenty-four hours.
No investigation, no attempt to find the criminal responsible, and no justice for the victim. The whole process appears to have simply become an elongated front for receiving a crime reference number for insurance purposes. That victim is added to the crime statistics, and then left to deal with the consequences themselves. Every six minutes another person will experience exactly this.
That simply isn’t good enough. Having your phone, bike or watch stolen is not only an expensive, upsetting and immensely frustrating experience, it alters your feeling of being in this city and your anxieties towards those people around you. You may also have to spend many hours trying to protect yourself from identity fraud in the aftermath. If you have not been a victim of this criminality, the chances are you know someone who has.
It now seems frankly novel to suggest that you should be able to walk down a street in London comfortably without the fear of a criminal in a balaclava snatching your phone out of your hand at speed, or being threatened into handing over your watch, handbag or wallet. The pressing need to start taking these types of crimes seriously is not only about preventing as many individuals as possible from experiencing them and the financial loss attached to this, it is also about addressing the overall sense that London does not feel safe.
We are now beginning to truly understand not only the scale of this theft epidemic, but also the criminality it is supporting. Rather than independent operators looking to make a quick profit, these crimes are increasingly being directed by highly organised crime groups who are benefitting to the tune of hundreds of millions of pounds, both in the UK and overseas.
My hope is that this report not only helps to raise the awareness of this issue, but to produce reasoned suggestions on what we can actually do about it. Over the last eight years, the Mayor of London appears to have been utterly uninterested in tackling this personally or giving the Met the resources and political will it needs to tackle the problem. My aim through this report, and my wider work as an Assembly Member, is to help force a change on the acceptance that this crime will simply take place, and there is nothing we can do about it. That is fundamentally not the case.
London is a brilliant city full of even further potential for our communities, our tourism and our global business prospects — we should be in a position where we are defined by this, and not our growing epidemic of theft. Let us hope that is something we can change in the very near future.
What others said about the report
“London is experiencing a theft epidemic. We need to capture, convict and imprison the career criminals disproportionately responsible. This report is a welcome push against the political status quo of lack of action on crime.”
— Dr Lawrence Newport, Academic and Founder, CrushCrime
Download the full report“With a phone now stolen every six minutes in the capital, we cannot simply sit back and allow London’s epidemic of theft and criminality to grow larger still. Neil and City Hall Conservatives are exactly right to be raising this important issue, and putting forward proactive solutions to the Mayor, Metropolitan Police Service and the Government in this report.
“Theft has a huge impact on victims and how safe our communities feel, so it is vital that the Mayor starts taking this kind of high-volume crime seriously. By effectively decriminalising certain crimes in London, we are sending the message that actions do not have consequences, and that you are unlikely to be caught if you commit lawlessness. That is evidently the wrong approach, and this report not only highlights the scale of the issue, it also puts forward much-needed suggestions on how London can begin to tackle this epidemic.”
— Rt Hon Chris Philp MP, Shadow Home Secretary