Shrinking police force 'focusing on what matters'

"It's disappointing to be shrinking as a police force, but we're focusing most of all on things that matter most to Londoners," says the Metropolitan Police's most senior officer, Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley.

"That's why I put more resources into neighbourhood policing - and they're making a big difference."

His comments come at a testing time for London's police. Despite extra funds being secured from the Home Office, there will still be a reduction in officers and services.

Public confidence in the police remains low, with a survey by the mayor of London's office of policing and crime - issued in May - showing that just 45% of Londoners believe the police do a good job in their local area.

According to the Office for National Statistics, almost 90,000 shoplifting offences were recorded in the capital last year - a 54% increase compared with 2023.

In April, Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan's office said he was "determined to do all he can to tackle crime and its complex causes", but admitted there was "clearly still more work to do" to tackle shoplifting and other offences.

Sir Sadiq previously blamed the increase in shoplifting on the fact that London has "a lot of shops" compared with other parts of the country, along with the capital's high cost of living.

The Met is focusing on this type of crime as part of its local policing efforts.

Kaya Comer-Schwartz, deputy mayor of London for policing and crime, told BBC London: "We're in constrained times, we're working closely with government to make sure that like last year we have a landmark budget.

"We know that there are concerns but we can't give up."

BBC London was invited to observe an operation in Morden, south-west London, on Tuesday that saw about 100 officers trying to find items that have been stolen from larger supermarkets and sold on to smaller independent shops.

The focus of the operation is to try to make the stolen goods unsellable.

Insp Kevin Chambers said prior to the deployment that "we used property marking to mark over 5,000 goods that are frequently stolen from our repeat venues".

He added: "The markers, you can't see it with the naked eye, but they are marked with effectively invisible ink and then we have devices that we can use on deployments to see the markings and identify where they've been marked from."

A similar operation held in the area in April saw 15 people arrested and goods seized at an estimated value of £150,000.

The force has also launched Met Engaged, a subscription email service to provide communities with crime prevention advice and updates on ongoing incidents.

In April the Met said it had to lose 1,700 officers, PCSOs and staff and cut a number of services as it faces a £260m hole in its budget for this financial year.

The Royal Parks police team will go, as will officers placed in schools.

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