Londoners want the police to treat crime as if it’s actually illegal
Having denied that London is experiencing a crime wave for years, Sadiq Khan’s announcement of crackdown on phone theft is an admission that the capital is less safe than it should be, says Lawrence Newport
For years, Sadiq Khan has told Londoners not to believe their own eyes.
Londoners have borne witness to the worst theft crime epidemic on record; from the commuter whose phone is ripped out of their hand on the way to work, to the shop owner who watches the same thieves fill their pockets and bags with goods knowing the police are highly unlikely to ever act, and the school children who have to walk in groups, change their routes, and keep a tight grip on their bags.
Professional, international crime gangs have targeted London. Now, a phone is stolen every five minutes somewhere in the capital, and there are 260 reported cases of shoplifting daily. What is more, the Metropolitan Police have effectively legalised it. Most cases receive no response – less than one per cent end in a suspect identified: not convicted, just identified. More than nine in 10 reported shoplifting cases do not lead to a charge.
Nobody voted for this. Nobody consented to surrendering their phones, wallets and bags to criminals; nobody wants to live on dangerous streets where gangs can steal with close to zero chance of facing justice. There is something deeply corrosive about a city that has normalised crime: confidence in the Met has shattered, with two in three saying they don’t have trust in the force.
Khan’s approach has been to deny and dismiss anyone who points out the reality. Only last month did the Mayor and Metropolitan Police Chief Mark Rowley embark on a media tour to take aim at critics, claiming they were “painting a dystopian picture of a lawless place where criminals run rampant”, and responsible for “an endless stream of distortions and untruths”.
Today’s announcement of a major crackdown on phone theft, however, is something of an admission. The new “Command Cell”, established to target the organised networks behind phone theft, alongside additional funding to shut down shops trading in stolen devices, is an acceptance that more needs to be done.
While some more cash and a taskforce will not solve this overnight, it is a sign that City Hall is prepared to accept the truth, rather than continue denying plain facts. The test now is whether this is the beginning of real enforcement, or simply another announcement designed to quiet growing public anger.
Stop crime paying
If the Mayor is serious, the Met must destroy the entire ecosystem that has made crime pay: they must target the professional criminals responsible for half of all London’s crime, the networks smuggling stolen devices abroad, and the shops that happily resell shoplifted items. We know this works. The lesson is straightforward: concentrated action against repeat offenders reduces crime significantly.
The safety of ordinary Londoners must be put first once more. They don’t want platitudes, or to be told that everything is fine when they know it isn’t. Instead, they want their home to be a city with safe streets, and where law enforcement treats crime as illegal. Londoners are not asking for the impossible – they are asking for the basic right to go about their lives without becoming a victim. It is the very least we all deserve.
Dr Lawrence Newport is the Director and co-founder of Looking for Growth, a political movement to end decline and save Britain.