London needs a more visible approach to crime to beat its lawless image, which has led to pavement reminders about the danger of phone theft and warnings from airlines as passengers come in to land, a reputation expert has said.
William Walter, managing director of Bridgehead Communications, told The National that London needs to adopt the "zero tolerance" approach enforced by Rudy Giuliani, which won public confidence and turned New York's image around when he was mayor in the 1990s.
The UK’s capital has in recent years been blighted by thieves on bikes snatching mobile phones from unsuspecting victims and "Rolex ripper" gangs hitting luxury watch owners.
Last year the Met Police said about 80,000 mobile phones were stolen and so far this year the figure is 45,000.
With many of these street crimes concentrated in areas in central London where overseas visitors gather to see the city’s world famous tourist sites, its global reputation has taken a hit.
Crime in the city even attracted the attention of Donald Trump, who used his recent visit to Britain to renew his long-running feud with London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan, saying: "I think he's done a terrible job. Crime in London is through the roof."
In response Mr Khan has recently gone on a PR offensive, releasing statistics showing homicides are at a 22-year low and knife crime has also fallen.
But while those serious crimes are becoming less common, the likelihood of becoming a victim of petty theft has risen. The fact that mobile phones are so valuable, and often carried in the hand even when not being used, has made them easy targets for thieves.
Mr Walter said that even if the police in London are making some headway, “shifting the public narrative is a bit like turning a supertanker around”.
“Quite a good example is New York which had a very bad reputation for being crime ridden, particularly in the 70s and the 80s,” said Mr Walter, whose company helps businesses, organisations and individuals with their brand reputation.
“When Rudy Giuliani became the mayor, the zero tolerance policing tactic was a compelling vision. It was a very public solution to the problem that stole some of the headlines and the media got behind it. That very visual policing eventually turned around the supertanker.”
When he was mayor, Mr Giuliani’s policies were widely credited with reducing crime in New York using an approach that began with tackling minor offences as a deterrent to more serious crime. He has since been disbarred as a lawyer.
The perception of street thefts is so bad that a campaign on Oxford Street, London’s main shopping thoroughfare, to alert people to the danger has seen purple strips with "Mind the Grab" written on the pavement. The campaign is a play on the London Tube’s iconic Mind the Gap safety messages.
Mr Walter said this was an example of poor messaging as it suggested it was the best solution that authorities could come up with and was "counter-productive, in terms of shifting public perception".
“What they should do is just have a much more visual police presence on Oxford Street, and then also probably stringent sentences, punishments for those that are doing it,” he said.
Lawrence Newport, who campaigns against what he calls the inaction of the authorities in tackling crime in London, says that its bad image is reinforced among some visitors, even before they have left the airport.
“Someone I know recently was on an inbound flight and was told, 'Please do be aware to keep your phones close to you as you travel from the airport to your hotel',” Mr Newport, who runs the Crush Crime initiative, told The National.
“That's extremely damaging. There's statistics that show about two fifths of all phone theft in Europe happens in London.”
He believes that London’s “international image has taken a significant hit over the past few years” as incidents of lawlessness are relayed around the world on social media.
“Another one of the ways in which London is currently taking a hit is when people arrive here, if they're in a shop, there's a very good chance that they might literally just see people enter, fill bags up with stuff and run out the door,” said Mr Newport, who is also an academic.
“They see no one do anything about it and no one calls the police, because no one sees a point to calling the police. Obviously, in a world of social media, that very easily can become very large news.”
In response to mobile phone thefts, the Met Police has sought to go on the offensive, and recently said the discovery of 1,000 iPhones at a warehouse near London’s Heathrow Airport led to the dismantling of a suspected international smuggling gang.
Criminologist James Alexander, from London Metropolitan University, said London has become a magnet for criminal networks, who began recruiting young people to steal phones and bikes during Covid when they could not sell drugs.
“If you look at the boroughs with the most crime, Westminster is actually quite wealthy but has the highest level street crime because people are targeting tourists,” he told The National.
The Met Police said: “London is a safe city and in terms of violence compares favourably not only to other major international cities such as New York, Paris and Berlin, but also comparable British ones like Birmingham and Manchester.
"Our relentless focus on tackling crime is working. Neighbourhood offences, including theft, robbery and vehicle crime, are down almost 15 per cent across London and we’re arresting around 1,000 more criminals every month compared to this time last year.
"Through precise, intelligence-led policing we are solving double the number of shoplifting cases — and recently smashed an organised crime group suspected of smuggling 40,000 stolen phones out of London to China."
