Figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats on the London Assembly have revealed a sharp increase in the number of pick pocketing incidents on London’s bus network.
‘Theft from the person’ offences, which range from theft of/from a bag (dipping) to items stolen directly from the person, went up 18.5% since 2003/04 from 18,380 to 21,794 in 2005/06.
Lord Graham Tope who speaks for the party on Policing issues described the increase as “alarming” adding “part of the rise is no doubt due to more people carrying ipods, blackberries and other expensive and easily snatched items.”
The worst hit Borough was Westminster which had a total of 2588 reported incidents in 2005/06.
The Liberal Democrat Peer called for “a push to bring more of these offences to justice.”
