Sir Sadiq Khan has blamed London’s recent 50 per cent surge in shoplifting on the fact the city has “a lot of shops” compared with other parts of the country, along with the capital’s particularly high cost of living.
Data published by the Office for National Statistics last week showed that 80,041 shoplifting offences were recorded by the Metropolitan Police and City of London Police in the 12 months to September 2024 – up from 53,202 for the same period a year earlier.
London’s 50 per cent increase is more than twice as big as the 22 per cent jump seen across the whole of England and Wales in the same period, as shoplifting cases rose overall from 402,482 to 492,914.
Data published by the Office for National Statistics last week showed that 80,041 shoplifting offences were recorded by the Metropolitan Police and City of London Police in the 12 months to September 2024 – up from 53,202 for the same period a year earlier.
London’s 50 per cent increase is more than twice as big as the 22 per cent jump seen across the whole of England and Wales in the same period, as shoplifting cases rose overall from 402,482 to 492,914.
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NewsTranscript
00:00As the cost-living crisis gets worse, acquisitive crime is going to go up and has gone up three
00:07areas where acquisitive crime has gone up. Personal theft, personal robbery and shoplifting.
00:14Particularly bad here in London is the key point.
00:17Because we have a lot of shops here and because the cost-living crisis is more acute in the
00:20capital city.
00:22Percentage increase there.
00:24Personal theft and personal robbery is a big concern of me as well in London.
00:28That's one of the reasons why I support the Commissioner in him having as a priority
00:33enabled teams.
00:34I've been myself out in patrols with enabled teams in Waterloo and elsewhere where the
00:38work they've been doing with the retailers using facial recognition, having good enabled
00:45watch teams has led to a reduction in those particular shops.
00:49I'm really pleased that the Home Secretary has now convened a roundtable to address this
00:56issue which includes concerns around shoplifting.
00:59It is a big issue across the country.
01:01I speak regularly to retailers including Asdor that represent retailers, staff who are assaulted
01:07as a consequence of working in shops by people who own a shoplifter or commit personal theft
01:12and personal robbery.
01:13So it's an issue personal to me as someone who used to work in retail but it's also an
01:17issue important to Londoners.