A targeted police crackdown in 20 hotspots across London reduced crime by 18 per cent and resulted in a third more arrests compared to last year during the summer, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) can reveal.
The Metropolitan Police launched increased police patrols and plain-clothed operations after jointly identifying areas with high levels of anti-social behaviour, theft and street crime with the Home Office.
The result was visible operations in town centres across the capital as the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) and the Met continued their shift towards prioritising neighbourhood policing with the limited resources at hand.
Crime in the 20 town centre hotspots reduced by 18 per cent over the course of the SaferSummer Streets operations between June 30 and September 30, the LDRS has been told.
The Met also said that arrests were up 34 per cent, while officers doubled the number of cases solved in those areas.
The LDRS joined the force on two of these operations to see the impact first-hand.
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During an August operation in Seven Sisters, in the north London borough of Haringey, officers stopped 68 individuals outside the tube station, with 15 positive searches – meaning they possessed illegal substances.
At the time, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ben Russell, the Met’s lead for Safer Summer Streets, told the LDRS that targeting crime hotspots was the key to reducing levels overall, rather than spreading the force too thin across London.
A few weeks later, the LDRS observed a theft-focused operation in a busy high street and shopping centre in Ealing, West London.
Uniformed and plain-clothed officers stationed themselves around a defined perimeter where the operations leads said the majority of crimes took place.
They were also stationed in the shopping centre’s CCTV room to identify and track any potential suspects.
The main offences here weren’t drug kingpins, but individuals – often those who were alcoholics or drug addicts themselves – carrying out petty theft to fund their habits.
At a local Sainsbury’s a 44-year-old man was charged after stealing £90 worth of steak from the store. It was likely he would go on to sell it to smaller stores for half the price.
Acting Supt. James Herring told the LDRS: “It’s a specific targeting, prolific offenders, those who are shoplifting from businesses within London and in this situation with the Ealing Town Centre.
“We can’t do this in isolation, so as much as we can, we look to work with other agencies, like the council and voluntary sector, to find out why these people are shoplifting, and if we can get some interventions, whether it’s a drug related or an alcoholic problem, it’s one way of trying to stop them, coming to the town centre and stealing for businesses.”
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The next phase of the operation would be identifying the places and areas where thieves take any stolen goods.
PC Emilie Waite, who was coordinating the operation, said a joined up approach was needed to solve the problem in the long-term.
“There’s a shared thing with people who are both using drugs and shoplifting,” she said.
“We can’t just arrest and sanction shoplifters, but we also need to take a soft approach as well to help them get the support that they need.
“We also want to make sure that the businesses in this area know that the police are supporting them so that they feel more confident to report shoplifting. And in that way it helps us get more information, it helps us get more resources, and then we can start looking at other things, such as targeting shops that are handling the stolen goods, that are being shoplifted from the businesses.
“This is just one of the components of tackling shoplifting. There’s lots more things that we do either side that will help as well, but part of today is just about reassuring the public and that we are here to tackle this problem.
“We’ve got a limited amount of police resources that we need to maximise our efficiency in our efforts.”
City Hall were also keen to point out the wider fall in crime rates across London, despite limited resources for the Met.
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The 12 months to November 2025 saw 22,000 fewer offences than the 12 months to November 2024, meaning total recorded crime in London has fallen by 2.4 per cent.
This includes a 16 percent reduction in homicides, a 7 percent reduction in violence with injury, a 15 percent reduction in personal robbery, an 11 percent reduction in theft from the person.
However, Met Police data also shows that sexual offences are up by 7.9 per cent in the same period, with drug offences increasing by over a third in the latest 12-month period compared to the year before.
The Mayor of London said: “The evidence is clear – our approach to tackling crime and its complex causes is working and the results speak for themselves. There have been 22,000 fewer offences across the capital in the last year – with burglary, personal robbery, theft and vehicle crime all falling. Violence with injury and gun crime are also down. The latest ONS data shows you are less likely to be the victim of violent crime in London than in the rest of England and Wales.
“These results are testament to the hard work of the Met Police who I’ve backed with record investment to bear down on crime, alongside the prevention and early intervention work of my London Violence Reduction Unit and partners across London.
“But no one is resting on their laurels. We need to continue to make progress in 2026. I’ll continue to do all I can, working with businesses, communities and the police to build on these reductions as we continue to deliver a safer London for everyone.”
