Number of thefts from Metropolitan Police buildings soars during pandemic

Exclusive: More than £43,000 in cash stolen from Met buildings since 2015 as data shows rising number of thefts

The sergeant and constable were based in the Westminster Licensing Unit

The number of thefts from Metropolitan Police stations is rising and property worth thousands of pounds being taken every month as data suggests the force struggles to maintain security at the buildings it operates.

Property worth more than £150,000 has been stolen from Metropolitan Police stations since the start of 2015, according to data obtained by The Independent using freedom of information legislation.

Thefts have risen disporportionately this year – between 1 January and 31 July there were 85 thefts from Met buildings with property worth more than £15,000 stolen.

This figure is already higher than the value of all the property stolen from Met buildings last year and will be almost double the total for 2019 by the end of the year if thefts continue at the same rate.

Items that have been stolen from Met buildings since the start of 2015 include more than £43,000 in cash, mobile phones worth £23,800, bicycles and cycling equipment worth more than £14,500, and a watch worth £11,250.

Other items that have been stolen from police stations include drugs, documents, computers, and 43 police uniforms.

The Met is on course to record around 146 individual thefts from its buildings by the end of 2020.

This would be a 22 per cent increase compared to 2019 and the highest annual figure since 2016, when there were 172 thefts from police buildings.

In more than half of all of the instances where a theft has been discovered, the police force failed to identify a suspect and the stolen property was only recovered intact in one out of every ten thefts.

The number of thefts from police stations that have resulted a suspect being charged has declined over recent years, with only one out of 57 completed investigations resulting in charges during the first seven months of 2020.

The rising number of thefts from Met buildings is a cause for concern, according to Mohammed Qasim, a visiting research fellow in criminology at the London School of Economics, who said that the force’s apparent inability to control security at its own police stations was “very worrying”.

“The public relies on the police to prevent crimes and if they cannot stop them or solve them when they happen in their own buildings it erodes faith in the police as an organisation," he said.

“The new data shows that dozens of objects like documents, computers and recordings have been stolen form police buildings.

“These all potentially hold confidential information and could pose a risk to the effective operations of the UK justice system."

The latest information about the rising number of thefts from police stations comes after it was revealed that more than 1,300 pieces of evidence have been lost by the Metropolitan Police since 2013, raising concerns about the potential for trials to collapse.

Concerns have also been raised about security standards in police stations. In August, leaked documents revealed that an infiltration exercise at Britain’s biggest police force exposed “worryingly” lax security, with 85 per cent of buildings able to be breached.

Those conducting the exercise were able to stroll into secure areas of police stations and buildings, many of which store confidential files, computer systems, weapons, illegal drugs and sensitive evidence.

A review of security culture across the Met was carried out in February after numerous breaches last year by members of the public who walked into buildings without being asked for identification.

In a statement the Met police said it that it takes the security of its buildings and the safety of its staff seriously.

“The figures provided do not correlate to people breaking into Met buildings or breaching security and also includes a range of property including personal items such as cigarettes and food,” it said.

In 2020, the Met’s Department of Professional Standards launched an initiative to review property handling processes and inspections have been carried out at front counters in police stations.