For online influencer and video creator Yogesh Alekari, it was meant to be a once-in-a-lifetime dream trip around the world on his beloved KTM 390 steed. Having ridden more than 24,000 kilometres through Asia and Europe, Alekari was taking a pit stop in the grounds of an Elizabethan mansion in central England called Wollaton Park when his bike, along with all of his belongings – cash, laptop, filming gear, passport, and everything else – was stolen by a gang of youths.
Alekari told ABP Live, “I’m just in total shock. I broke down and cried. How can this happen? I’ve lost everything.”
Theft Epidemic In Broad Daylight
And it happened in broad daylight, as countless families, children and other bystanders watched on. One bystander even managed to film the thieves taking 11 minutes to cut off the bike’s safety locks before riding away.
That kind of bystander antipathy has become symptomatic of the absolute epidemic of theft that has gripped British society. From cars, motorcycles and bicycles, mobile phones and watches, to alcohol and tobacco, from supermarkets the scourge is widespread.
Britain, which once ruled over a quarter of the planet, doesn’t lead the world in many things these days. But it’s vibrant and dynamic capital city of London has the dubious honour of being the phone theft epicentre of Europe.
According to analysis by SquareTrade, an insurance company, some 70,000 phones were stolen in London last year, accounting for more than 40 per cent of all phone thefts across Europe. When children head into London these days, parental advice doesn’t consist of warning kids to “be wary of strangers”.
Instead, it’s a strident warning to be wary of phone snatchers on electric bikes and to only take your phone out in a safe space.
When filmmaker Vinod Kapri came to London this summer to screen his new film ‘Pyre’ at the prestigious British Film Institute (BFI) in London, he was shocked when, before and after screenings, BFI stewards would warn punters to be wary of phone thieves operating on the pavements outside the BFI institute in the heart of the city.
Kapri told me that he had travelled the length and breadth of India and visited cities across the world, but had never encountered anything similar.
When I visit London for work, my first instinct when coming out of the train, alighting from a bus, exiting a building and walking on the pavement is to make sure my phone and other valuables are safely hidden.
Surging Shoplifting And Street Crime
It absolutely is an epidemic and is causing panic in town centres up and down Britain. Images of youths clad in black, with their faces covered, riding electric bikes, roving the pavements on the lookout for victims or barging with impunity into retail stores to shoplift whatever takes their fancy.
The figures are staggering. Shoplifting has surged by a fifth over the past year, with retailers estimating some 20 million incidents of shoplifting yearly. And those are the incidents that are actually reported. And it’s costing the retail sector more than Rs. 26,000 Crores.
Personal thefts – the snatching of mobile phones and watches – may not amount to that staggering financial number, but have created a pervasive sense of fear and loathing in parts of London. Of the more than 150,000 such incidents recorded in England and Wales last year, two-thirds occurred in the British capital.
Senior independent journalist Sakshi Joshi experienced that fear and loathing and, ultimately, outrage, first-hand while on a visit to London last year. While enjoying the Christmas Lights on Oxford Circus – the retail heart of London – her wallet was stolen from her bag.
“When we travel outside our own country, we get a little careless, and we don’t think that anything of that sort will ever happen to us. And this is how I was when I travelled to London”, Joshi says.
“I thought, I’m in London, it’s the UK, nothing of that sort would happen here!”, she adds.
“I was warned repeatedly by friends and associates about not using the phone while walking and to be wary and ensure that all my belongings were safe and secure, but like most tourists, these are not things that uppermost in your mind”, Joshi said.
The thieves went on to swipe her credit cards and burn through more than Rs 1.5 Lakh in cash, leaving Joshi distraught on the first day she had landed in London.
“To date I’m scared of travelling to London. In fact, the experience was so traumatic that I don’t think I will ever find the courage to travel to London ever again”, Joshi said.
Police Under Pressure, Public Left Helpless
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said, “We understand personal crimes like phone theft are still a serious problem and have boomed globally. London is not immune, and we are determined to target criminal gangs – many of whom steal phones and sell them overseas. We are continuing to step up our work to prevent and tackle this issue, with increased patrols and plain-clothed officers in hotspot areas to deter and catch these criminals”.
The most alarming thing about this epidemic for many members of the public is the sheer brazenness of these thieves, many often teenagers or young adults, who seem completely confident of getting away with it. When Alekari approached the police, he was told that because the thieves were “masked and had gloves on”, they had no leads to pursue and that his best option would be to approach his insurance company for redress.
The antipathy of the public is actually only matched by that of police forces across the UK. After a decade and more of austerity and cuts to public services, police forces just don’t have the resources to handle the sheer volume of crimes that are being committed.
While the Metropolitan Police have instituted specialist teams that will even “bait” potential criminals on the streets of London, it is merely a drop in the ocean in terms of what needs to be done.
Then there are the “human rights laws” that pervade life in Britain. Members of the public who might take action against a would-be thief might find themselves charged with assault or embroiled in long-winded and complex legal battles. A shopkeeper, fed up with constant shoplifting, decided to post CCTV images of thieves on a local Facebook page. He was warned that he may be “infringing on the rights to privacy of the thieves”.
While Britain’s cost-of-living crisis may have contributed to a rise in shoplifting, a vast majority of these crimes are completely and patently opportunistic. It’s an embarrassment that Alekari could safely travel for thousands of miles through countries routinely described in the West as “Third World” only to have his entire life snatched away in a moment.
The problem is emblematic of a country and a society that has become listless, lacking a national identity and completely uncertain about its place in the world.
