London Watch Crime, When Will It Stop And What Can You Do!?

London watch crime has become more prevalent and it is causing serious concern in the high-end boroughs of the city. The robbery of watches is serious business, and business like is the best way to think about it. This isn’t low level opportunist theft. This is pre-planned and organised. There are two main ways that people are becoming victim to the robbery.

Researched Victims

London watch crime, using researched victims is where organised crime gangs are using the social media and traditional media profiles of potential victims to firstly identify the watches that they have been asked to rob to order. Then secondly to work out the pattern of life of the victim. So that they know at what time the victim will be most vulnerable to have the watch robbed from them.

Vulnerable Victims

London watch crime, using vulnerable victims is where organised crime gangs are stalking the high-end areas of London frequenting by the rich and famous, like Mayfair and Knightsbridge. In the hunt for vulnerable victims, especially those who may be intoxicated and therefore seem an easy target. They can identify the watch of interest either physically on the victim when they see them in the street. Or they may wait near to a luxury goods shop where there is potential that people entering may be wearing expensive watches. Most effectively though, they have a network of spotters who work at high-end restaurants, bars, and nightclubs, who relay information to the gangs about their being a potential victim in a certain area. The gangs then position themselves in a place to rob the vulnerable target when they leave those places of relative safety.

How Does the Robbery Happen?

In both cases of London watch crime, the actual robbery will be very similar. The victims are going to be approached at some point by probably two to four gang members who will demand the watch from the victim. Realistically they are taking the watch and this will happen quickly.

In the case of researched victims, this could be at a park where they know they regularly walk the dog, or outside of their home if they know they always get back from work at a certain time for example.

For vulnerable victims, it’s most probably towards the end of the night when they know the victim may be worse for wear through intoxication, and therefore be an easier target.

In both cases they won’t be too concerned about CCTV, as their full faces will be masked and therefore there would be very little evidential value in the CCTV.

However, the London watch crime gangs would prefer it to be somewhere quieter to limit the potential for have a go heroes who might want to help the victim. Plus to reduce the likelihood of their being police in the area.

Once the watch is taken from you it will be handed over to someone not involved in the initial London watch crime robbery, to be moved away from the area. Therefore if those gang members who conducted the robbery are stopped by police, they have no watch on them that could be used in evidence against them. Making a conviction towards them very hard.

The London watch crime gangs have a network of people who will purchased the watches off them. Their aim is to get the watch to those people as quickly as possible. Again, so they are not storing robbed watches at their homes which could be used as evidence against them if their homes were searched by police after an arrest.

What Can You Do?

Realistically not a lot. For the lay person the best thing to do is to hand the watch over. It’s not worth you or anyone with you getting hurt over. But there are some things that you can do to reduce the likelihood of being robbed. It would be great to say don’t wear your watches until this robbery epidemic is over. But that isn’t going to happen. With the state of UK policing, there’s no way that the police could do anything other than a surge to address this issue. Then once the surge is over, the situation would just return to how it was prior to the surge. Ultimately it’s big business for the gangs and easy money, so why would they stop.

Here’s what you can do reduce the likelihood of being a victim of London watch crime.

• Try to limit pictures of your watches on social media, gangs will be actively searching for certain expensive watches  
• Lock your social media profile down to friends only, so it’s not available to just anyone who searches for you
• Try not to set patterns on social media that would allow robbers to build up a profile of you. Such as posting ‘I love our Saturday morning dog walks in Hyde Park’
• Keep the watch covered where possible under your sleeve
• Be cautious if staff in restaurants or bars are being overly interested in your watch. They may be trying to clarify that it’s not a fake
• Take a taxi between locations rather than walking
• If you do need to walk, try keep to well lit and populated routes 
• Keep an eye over your shoulder. If you think that you’re being followed by a gang then react immediately. Seek refuge in a pub or shop, and don’t leave if it appears that the gang are waiting for you
• You’re most vulnerable either on your own or as a mixed sex couple. So try to stay together in a larger group if possible 
• If it looks like you’re about to get robbed, tell them the watch is fake to make them question whether it’s worth the risk of robbing you

So What’s Next?

There is no reason at all that the London watch crime epidemic that is currently gripping the capital city is going to slow down, never mind stop. For every gang that gets taken off the streets, there is another to take their place.

There’s very little that you can do. If you try to stop them, you will face extreme violence, potentially with weapons. CCTV doesn’t bother them. They’re not scared of the police, as police numbers mean there is very little chance of getting caught, and an even smaller chance of a conviction.

Employing a bodyguard to support you just isn’t realistic for most people, and it’s hard to justify if you use a risk based approach.

The most effective thing that you can do to reduce the likelihood of being victim to London watch crime is take responsibility for this yourself. Take some time to develop your understanding of personal safety and security. This won’t just benefit you from a London watch crime perspective. It’s likely that as a high-end watch wearer, that you have other wealth in either the home or expensive cars for example. This personal safety and security development can support you to reduce risk in those areas of your life also. For both you and your family.

Article written by Tom Richmond, Managing Director of Security and Safety Solutions