Shoplifting is down, but what about other crime?
London is on lockdown because of a disease killing people in unprecedented numbers. While crime overall is down in London during lockdown, the capital still saw 10 murders in the month of April.
We spoke to one of the Metropolitan Police’s most senior offices, who revealed that while petty crime like shoplifting has reduced while the majority of people are indoors, organised crime in particular has used the fact that people are no longer out and about to innovate and adapt their criminal enterprises into a more online setting.
Jermaine Lawlor, a former gang member who founded Voice4YouthAgainstViolence, told us that our society abandoned young people being lured into crime long before the lockdown was enforced. He also revealed that many of the young people his organisation are working with are still out on the streets because their lifestyle and culture remains there.
"Shoplifting is down because the shops aren't open. But organised criminality? Lockdown isn't going to stop them operating."
Some can shut the doors to their homes and wait out lockdown, but for others that's not an option. pic.twitter.com/u0L0qWldzb
— PoliticsJOE (@PoliticsJOE_UK) May 12, 2020
