The Met is gaslighting us about London's crime problem, writes James Hanson

It is gaslighting on a grand scale.

Speaking to my LBC colleague Nick Ferrari this morning, Sir Mark Rowley said complaints about lawlessness were ‘politically motivated’.

He also disputed a report by Policy Exchange that London is the phone theft capital of Europe, and declared “this is a safe city”.

Perhaps the Met chief moves in loftier circles than I do, but in my corner of south London crime is both highly visible and pervasive. Phone snatching is rife, shoplifting is normalised, and youths in balaclavas roam the streets.

If this is what a “safe city” looks like, I wouldn’t want to live in a dangerous one.

There’s a growing trend of dismissing concerns about London’s crime problem as a right-wing scare tactic. And I can understand why many Londoners feel instinctively defensive about criticism from the likes of Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

But two things can be true at once. While the MAGA right seeks to weaponise London’s crime rate to further their own agenda, they wouldn’t be able to do so if there wasn’t more than a kernel of truth in the worrying picture they paint.

Take phone crime, for instance. Mine was stolen in broad daylight outside Oval tube station last year. Since then, I’ve seen it happen to countless others.

I often cycle via Waterloo on weekends, shortly after 7am. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve witnessed professional phone thieves swoop on unsuspecting victims.

Don’t just take my word for it. More than 34,000 mobiles were stolen in Westminster last year - equivalent to 94 a day.

In the same borough, pickpocket thefts have increased by 712 per cent in three years. Two-fifths of Europe’s phone thefts now happen in the UK.

Earlier this year, the chief executive of PPHE Hotels said tourists are being put off visiting London because of it.

This summer, Currys even painted purple banners on the pavement outside its Oxford Street store to warn shoppers to be careful using their phones in the street. It shouldn’t be left to hotel groups and retailers to raise the alarm.

Adding to the problem is the sense that police simply aren’t interested. This week’s Policy Exchange report highlights how the Met is failing to solve the vast majority of thefts, only identifying the culprit in just one in 20 robberies, one in 13 shoplifting offences and one in 179 muggings.

While the Met is right to highlight recent falls in homicides and knife offences, the crimes Londoners are experiencing day-to-day are highly visible and street-level.

From fare-dodging on the tube to shoplifting in the supermarket, witnessing brazen displays of lawbreaking feels like the new normal.

No wonder public faith in the Met is at an all-time low.

The proportion of Londoners who think the force is doing a good job in their local area has fallen even further during Rowley’s time in office - to 45 per cent in the twelve months to June 2025.

London remains a great city to live in. But it’s not a right-wing scare tactic to point out that crime is more visible than ever.

Sir Mark Rowley should worry less about what Donald Trump has to say about the capital’s lawlessness and more about the legitimate concerns of ordinary Londoners.