- Locals blame officer cuts, petty crimes, saying criminals feel emboldened by slower response times
- 'These people are doing it over and over again because they know they can get away with it,' a resident tells Anadolu
- Data shows falling violent crime, but visible theft fuels fears about safety in the capital
LONDON
Local residents in southwest London say police cuts are to blame after a jewelry shop was robbed in broad daylight, an incident that has renewed concerns about street crime and the lack of visible policing.
Burglars armed with hammers smashed the front window of Gregory & Co jewellers in Richmond shortly before noon on Jan. 31, making off with items while staff tried to stop them.
A video widely shared on social media shows two masked and hooded men striking the shopfront before pulling away the shattered glass and scooping items into a bag. The store sits on Paved Court, a narrow, cobblestone pedestrian street lined with boutique shops, cafes and restaurants.
Last Thursday, police said the investigation was ongoing and that no arrests had been made so far.
“We realize incidents of this nature can have a real impact on the local community, especially businesses and those who live in the area,” Superintendent Craig Knight, who leads the Met's neighbourhood policing in Richmond, said in a statement.
A spokesperson for Gregory & Co, a family-run jeweller that has operated in Richmond for more than 45 years, described the incident as “deeply upsetting,” but said the public support and kindness have been “overwhelming.”
A surge in visible crime
Witnesses described the scene as shocking but not entirely surprising, pointing to what they see as a long-term decline in visible police presence.
“For years, there used to be officers on the beat,” Alexander, a longtime Richmond resident, told Anadolu. "We had a police station 200 meters (650 feet) away, that's closed. I personally think more minor crime, but still crime, and obviously smashing the jeweler's window is a result of that.”
The latest robbery has echoes of a high-profile watch store raid in Richmond in May 2024, when more than £1 million ($1.3 million) worth of watches were stolen and the shop manager, 27-year-old Oliver White, took his own life the following day. Three men were later jailed for a combined 51 years for the crime.
Alexander added that drug use and petty crime were creating “a storm” of problems in the area, which is considered one of London’s safest boroughs.
Official figures, however, present a more mixed picture.
Across London, knife-enabled crime, personal robbery and theft from the person fell by roughly 7% to 19% in the year to mid-2025, while homicides dropped to their lowest level in more than a decade, according to the Metropolitan Police and the Office for National Statistics.
However, the capital still reports the highest knife-crime rate in England and Wales, according to Office for National Statistics data.
Overall, longer-term research also suggests violent crime has declined significantly across the UK, supported by both national surveys and hospital admissions data. In the late 1990s, about a quarter of Britons said they were worried about violent crime; today, the figure is closer to 8%, according to the Financial Times.
But more visible offenses tell a different story. Shoplifting and theft from the person climbed to their highest levels in at least 15 years, the Financial Times reported in July. And analysts say that these more visible crimes have a stronger impact on how safe people feel day to day.
Less visible policing, more public concern
Louise, another local, said the situation is “very concerning.”
"We know the Metropolitan Police situation where they've cut a lot of police officers, and it's not the police officers’ faults, it's the government cutting them back," she said.
In May 2024, there were 33,766 police officers in London, but the Metropolitan Police forecasts that number will drop to 31,258 by March 2026, and warned it could face further staffing cuts without an expected funding boost.
"The police have no chance of getting here on time to catch them,” Louise said.
Others, like Rosie, struck a more cautious tone, saying that while high-profile incidents are worrying, London, despite having the highest knife-crime rate in England and Wales, remains safer than many global cities.
"Knife crime can happen, but random stabbings are rare," she said.
Still, she warned that fewer officers on the streets could lead to more opportunistic crime.
“I think the crimes are likely to increase," she said. “Because of all the cuts from the government, you don't get officers on the beat anymore.”
"The cutbacks tend to be supported by a lot of people, but at the end of the day, they're the ones who are going to be the recipients of the crime," she added, saying criminals can get away with more now that “there's not going to be an office around the corner.”
Public opinion reflects the tension between crime statistics and perception.
A recent YouGov survey found that 61% of Britons consider London an unsafe place to live, although only 34% of Londoners agree. In fact, 63% of residents say the capital is safe, and just 15% consider their own local area unsafe.
In 2014, 53% of Britons said London was a safe place to live, compared with 39% who disagreed.
In Richmond itself, one of London’s safer boroughs, crime rose 4.9% in January compared with December but fell 4.4% over the previous 12 months, according to Metropolitan Police data.
For residents like Alexander and Louise, the issue is less about statistics and more about what they see on their streets.
“These people are doing it over and over again because they know they can get away with it,” Louise said. “That is the worry."