Only a fifth of shops give police CCTV to investigate theft, as new app sees more arrests in London

A lack of evidence from retailers has been partly blamed for the low rate of cases being solved, which averaged just 14% across the capital in 2025.

“The situation isn’t tolerable and we need retailers to work with us,” said Scotland Yard’s second in charge, Matt Jukes.

Officers in parts of London are now trialling an online tool for shopkeepers to report and automatically send evidence to the police.

The app uses artificial intelligence to write statements based on what was stolen, which have already been accepted as evidence in court.

And it matches different reports relating to the same offender, to help investigators build a much stronger case against them.

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Deputy Commissioner Jukes told LBC: “By joining up the dots like this, we can see someone getting dealt with for more of their offending.

“Not just for £50 pounds, but for £3,000. Not for one offence, but for 40 offences.

“That makes an enormous difference to the way the courts can deal with it.”

Giving a demonstration of the app in Lewisham Police Station, local PC Danielle Pyke explained a recent case which had been fed through to them.

“On that particular day, we can see that this woman stole £59 worth of goods," she said.

“The shop named her, listed the items individually and uploaded the CCTV for me.

“But on here, I can also click follow for that offender, to see if she’s attended another store and it would give me a notification to say she’s hit somewhere else.”

Since its rollout in January across shop theft hotspots in Southeast and Central London, the Met says 50% more cases have led to arrests.

But the cycle of repeat offenders is continuing to blight the high street.

Deputy Commissioner Jukes said he hopes the new technology will help address that.

“We definitely see that there are short sentences being given and people returning to the community and offending again, even if they’re out on tags.

“We are concerned and want to see the right people in the right cases being remanded in custody and get good sentences that act as a deterrent.

“That’s not happening in every case that we would like to see and it’s on us to make sure the evidence to support that is as strong as it needs to be.”

Across London, police figures show shoplifting fell by 3.7% over the past year.

Officers say they are able to identify around 80% of suspects via facial recognition software in cases where clear CCTV is provided.

Only one in five cases are currently submitted with that evidence.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan told LBC: “Shoplifting is not a victimless crime.

“We may smirk when we hear about a sausage roll being stolen from Greggs, but we've got evidence now that the cumulative impact of one thief can often go into thousands of pounds.

“This technology is game-changing. We know that when the police are given CCTV images, 80% of those responsible for crimes are arrested.

“So I'm saying to shopkeepers and retailers, work with the police to catch these bad people. We can make more progress and finally end the blight of shoplifting.”

Sara Tetlow, Safer Business Network Partnership Manager said: “Through real-time intelligence sharing, and close work with police, the council and businesses, we can quickly identify high-harm offenders, protect vulnerable people and respond to emerging issues.

“That partnership approach is delivering real impact, with 83% of businesses telling us they feel safer in Lewisham.”