Overview
- New figures show 31% of the 1,400 shoplifting offences in the Square Mile led to an arrest, charge or conviction, outpacing the 18.5% average in England and Wales and linked by police to strong ties with store staff.
- The force has launched Safer City Streets with branded police boxes and officers on foot and bicycles to raise visibility across the business district.
- Control-room staff used the City’s CCTV network to follow a suspect on April 17th from One New Change to Paternoster Square and then to Fleet Street, where officers arrested him.
- Paul Michael Whitehead, 46, pleaded guilty to thefts of more than £1,200 in perfume, was remanded in custody, and is due for sentencing in June.
- Backed by Home Office funding, the force is expanding cameras, using image-recognition tools, and embedding data-led hotspot patrols that it says cut violence by 10%, personal robbery by 7%, business robbery and retail crime by 22%, and overall crime by 15% in targeted areas between February 2025 and February 2026.