London police published statistics on phone thefts, and a parkour athlete refuted them (2 photos + 1 video)

According to official UK police figures, 90,864 phones were stolen in 2022 alone, or almost 250 phones a day. Last year, local thieves set a record, stealing a mobile every 6 minutes.





The Mayor of London and the Chief of the Metropolitan Police have joined a patrol working to crack down on mobile phone theft and mobile phone burglary in west London.

The figures also show that almost 70% of all thefts in London last year involved mobile phones. Phones are most often stolen from and by young people.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said that “the soaring cost of living threatens to exacerbate the violence and robberies that we know disproportionately affect young people.”

Government figures released in September 2024 showed that “snatch thefts” had risen by 150% on the previous year. And of the 78,000 people who had their phone or bag stolen in England and Wales in the year to the end of March, more than 58,000 of them (74%) were in London.



Funny: TalkTV presenter Mike Graham wrote that he personally reported the theft of his phone to a police officer, who replied that his own phone had been stolen a week earlier while he was in uniform, and advised him to fill out an online form.

A London parkour runner, Adam Marr, decided to test the waters to see if it was that hard to steal a phone. In 44 seconds, he stole 6 phones from random passersby. In dollars, the theft was worth around $5,000. So the police statistics have clearly been spoiled.