A major City Hall event has highlighted the desperate need for immediate action to tackle London's soaring theft rates, with Assembly Member Neil Garratt AM being joined by Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp MP and Crush Crime’s Dr Lawrence Newport to launch the Assembly Member’s landmark report on the capital's crime crisis.
The packed event saw politicians, activists, and Londoners who have been victims of theft come together to discuss practical solutions to London's escalating problem with phone and bike theft, which now sees over 115,000 phones and 20,000 bikes stolen annually across the capital, according to the data compiled by Neil Garratt AM.
The report, Tackling London's Theft Epidemic, reveals that a phone is stolen in London every 6 minutes, and a bike is stolen every half hour.
Tackling London's Theft Epidemic finds the vast majority of the capital's skyrocketing criminality is committed by a small number of offenders. By targeting this small group and removing those committing the most crime, the report argues, the number of offences recorded would be drastically reduced. This would not only reduce the number of people who fall victim to a crime, it would in fact give the Met more time and resources to address violent crime and improve overall safety across London.
Mr Garratt hopes that this report, in conjunction with the panel discussion, will start conversations amongst Londoners and put pressure on the Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan to intervene and act against the organised criminal gangs who carry out high-volume theft in the capital.
Polling commissioned by Assembly Member Garratt and conducted by YouGov exclusively for this report found that*:
62% of respondents said they were now more cautious when using their phone out and about in London than they were a year ago.
When asked if they believed the Mayor of London took the issue of phone theft seriously, nearly two-thirds of respondents believed the Mayor did not take the issue very seriously or seriously at all (63%).
When asked if phone theft as a crime was increasing or decreasing in London, 86% of those polled believed it was increasing, either a little or a lot. Among the 18-24 age group, this was 91%.
A quarter of those polled said they would ‘probably not’ report their phone (26%) or bike (25%) as stolen.
When respondents were asked to imagine that they had reported their stolen phone, and then their bike, to police, almost nine in ten respondents said the police ‘probably would not’ catch the criminal who had stolen their phone or their bike (88% and 89%).
In a statement, Neil Garratt AM said:
"This report shows Londoners want to see the police service they pay for to crack down on the gangs committing the majority of this criminality, for officers and detectives to actively pursue leads and retrieve items where possible, and for criminals to be brought to justice, regardless of whether the Met considers their crime to be ‘low level’ or not.
"Rather than placing the responsibility for this criminality onto manufacturers, the Mayor and Met must take responsibility for the incredibly low level of faith which Londoners have in their police service, and start being a proactive, targeted and visible presence for good in our city’s communities."
The Rt. Hon Chris Philp MP said:
“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.”
Dr Lawrence Newport said:
"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."
The report makes several key recommendations, including:
£7m ringfenced funding for the creation of a Theft Reduction Unit to work solely on organised theft,
The Met should launch a targeted, proactive operation to tackle high-volume crime, with Sir Sadiq Khan’s support, in the areas where these thefts are at their highest, involving visible policing and facial recognition technology
The Mayor of London should publish a Theft Reduction Action Plan, setting out the steps he will take, and which the public can mark his actions and results against,
Sir Sadiq should stop scapegoating phone manufacturers and shop owners for the increase in crime or putting the onus on them to solve it,
Calling on the Government to introduce stronger legislation and deterrents for organised crime gangs to crack down on the prevalence of these thefts
The full report can be downloaded below:
*All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 1,030 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 31st January - 5th February 2025. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all adults in London (aged 18+).
