Part of the solution is our old friend, visible policing. And there’s less and less of it, possibly because police numbers have fallen – from a peak of 34,523 officers in April 2023 to 32,609 as of last month – a loss of almost 2,000 officers. But also, police attention is occupied elsewhere. Over the last five years the Met logged no fewer than 15,000 non-crime hate incidents, which means police time not spent arresting shoplifters.
