London police pledge to end scourge of 'Rolex Rippers' and phone snatchers

Task force aims to pursue violent offenders with surveillance and increase in officers

A purple line is installed outside a store on Oxford Street in London as part of a campaign to combat phone theft. Police are stepping up activity against offenders. PA

Police in London have promised to use facial recognition technology and more “boots on the ground” to combat the city’s problem with violent robberies.

The new head of a task force specifically focusing on crime in the West End said the Metropolitan Police are determined to make the area “the most hostile environment to operate anywhere”.

The West End shopping streets of Oxford Street and Regent Street plus the nearby areas of Mayfair and Knightsbridge have gained a reputation for violent thefts, spawning the term 'Rolex Rippers' due to the number of luxury watches that have been stolen.

Phone snatching, often by people on electric bikes, has also become prolific in the hotspots, leading to some international visitors being put off returning.

The offenders will be pursued as part of an agreement by the police, Westminster Council, the mayor’s office and businesses to tackle crime.

Commander Andy Featherstone has now said that known offenders would be pursued using technology and information from security guards in shops.

He told the Metro: “Our aim is to make the West End the most hostile environment to operate anywhere.

“We want to make it the safest environment for tourists, residents and workers. We are going to do that through a number of initiatives.

“There will be more officers and more surveillance, the use of facial recognition technology is among the tools.”

He also said that the criminals who use violence would also probably be violent at home as well, suggesting that police may be able to get a warrant for allegations of domestic abuse.

One other tactic is to focus on traffic offences because they are easy to prove.

“We could get a violent criminal on a traffic charge then they have no vehicle which is a disruption for them and unsettles them,” he said.

“Convictions are not everything, if we can disrupt the criminal that can be valuable.”

In June, three men were jailed after preying on victims for their expensive watches in London's Rolex Ripper crime wave.

They struck in upmarket areas of the British capital, including one attack outside a Rolls-Royce showroom in Stratton Street, Mayfair.

Met Police figures show homicide is at a 10-year low, violent incidents in which people are injured are down by a fifth, which is proportionally lower than any other UK city, and firearms discharges are less than half the level they were seven years ago.

This is in contrast to knife crime, which has almost doubled in a decade.