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Is London becoming lawless
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It's a question that's gained a lot of traction in recent months. Mayor Cid Can says the city has faced a surge of disinformation
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and that social media is fueling an outrage economy. They depict London as a fallen city where crime goes unpunished
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and basic decency has all disappeared. People on the streets, though, say they feel less safe
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with crime ever more visible. So where does the truth lie? LBC joined the Metropolitan Police on an operation in a known crime hotspot in north-west London
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So that's the machete that they found inside This is what we saw, not online, but on the Capitol streets
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You join us in a police van patrolling the streets of Kilburn in north-west London
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We're racing towards a report that a group suspected of drug dealing is nearby
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We arrive at the scene where two men have been arrested outside a coffee shop
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But officers soon realise that something seems familiar about the suspects. At least one of those males who got stuck in there yesterday
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was a researcher, possessed him to supply drugs. Right, OK. And he's back out again, potentially drugs on him again
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So this is a typical stop and search that you're seeing happening here where they're put in handcuffs and then systematically the officers check
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to see if they have any drugs, any weapons on them. There was at least two people in this same group
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that they say were arrested on suspicion of possession of drugs with intent to supply
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They've had reports of it happening once again, so they're back here. We've also heard that yesterday one of them tried to throw cannabis
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over the counter of the coffee shop to avoid being caught. While searching one of the men, officers discover a suspicious item
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It's a small flick knife hidden inside an unassuming plastic case. Both men who've been stopped here are led away to be taken into custody
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Attempts will now be made to ensure they aren't released again and arrive back in the area within just a day
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But before we have any time to rest, another call's coming. We've just heard there are two people on the high road with knives
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Rushing towards the scene, we were told it wasn't just knives that had been spotted, but machetes
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I see three males, teenagers. Yeah, one in black jacket, black shorts
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Can we get the informant's phone number and ring him? They'd been seen by an off-duty police officer
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Police arrive on the high roads and they begin searching for the suspects
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We sprint back to the van with no time to spare
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We arrive to a chaotic scene. You can see inside the barbershop, the police officers have got their tasers out, they're
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now shouting. The suspects have been told to put their hands on their heads You can see the tasers have been deployed Two young men are led away as officers begin to search inside for the reported weapons
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while another is detained at a distance as officers begin to search the premises
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So a person has been seen, and the description is an all-blue tracksuit
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a black male, late teens, all-blue tracksuit, in this barbershop, and they've seen him in possession of what they describe to be
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a machete or a bladed weapon. Initial searches find that two of the men detained here
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don't have any weapons on them. It's created confusion amongst officers, as the trusted off-duty source remains adamant
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that he did see machetes. So we had an off-duty police officer
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who witnessed two males with a machete of some kind. He's seen the males walk into that shop and not come out
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After speaking to the informant again, the description does say that we have stopped outside
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So it's potentially that the actual suspect is somewhere. Somewhere. Which is why we've checked back anyway
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And we are now currently making any progress inside the shop. So, yeah, that's where we are
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Then, suddenly, a breakthrough. Yeah. Curtis! Knife! Oh, we have it
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You have it? We have. Right. One of the officers have just come out and told us
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that they've found the machete inside. So they've been searching the barbers after making an arrest
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This is the blade they found. So that's the machete that they've found inside
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Where did you find it? Just on the stairwell. On the stairwell
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So you can see that knife that they've found just on the stairwell inside the barbers here
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The man whose boy who's been arrested is really young. He's arguing with police, as you might expect
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protesting his innocence. The weapon is taken away by police to be safely sealed and stored for evidence
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They've just put the knife into a tube which will preserve the evidence
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and that will be used to continue with the investigation to make sure that they've got all the evidence they need
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The suspect is then led away to a police van But while this has been happening
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There's an unexpected development A man fitting the description of wearing shorts
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Appears from inside the actual shop Just explain what's happened then So yeah, the second suspect wearing the shorts that we're looking for
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That's just outside the shop So what's happening now? So Adam and we're wearing shorts as well
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The first suspect is being arrested. The second suspect is being searched right now. Obviously, we'll do a CCTV inquiry to make sure we have the correct evidence
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but the second suspect matches the description. The off-duty officer's intel had been correct
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Almost immediately after, another officer comes out of the shop. Number two
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All right. Are they going to see the TV in there, mate
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Yeah, they've received the device now. So the officers inside have just found a second knife
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by the stairs they say Two machetes that were reported as being seen being held by two teenagers now recovered from inside the barbershop
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So there's obviously been an attempt inside to try and hide the knives
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One of them found by the stairwell, the other by the toilet. They're boxing that knife up in the same way
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as they did the other machete that they found inside the barbershop. Two people who have been arrested
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they're being taken away into custody. The person who was arrested here had already been detained in recent weeks for carrying a machete
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And by chance, the man who made that arrest is on the operation with us
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I pulled up on a junction. We've seen this male. My inspector's rolled the window down to have a chat with him
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And he's instantly ran. So we've had a long foot chase. I've hopped out of the car, I've run after him
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and I've gone down all the way down Webley Park Olympic Way into an alleyway
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whereby he's then been thrown to the floor, detained him. and on his person next to him was a machete sheath
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and just next to him as well was a very large, long machete
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So obviously I arrested him for possession of an offensive weapon at that time. So yeah, I do recognise him, I've seen him before
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And that was just, what, a couple of weeks ago? Approximately three weeks ago. I can't give you the exact date
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It was within March. And the types of weapons, I mean, we've seen the two blades
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that have been brought out from the barbers here. They're terrifying, aren't they? Yes, and hence why we've gone in, in a way, with our tasers, Red Dot Challenge
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because it keeps us safe and the members of the public safe. We consider it obviously very serious
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It can be used to not just seriously injure a main bus, it can be used to kill us or other members of the public
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So, yeah, we've taken it extremely seriously. Two more dangerous weapons have been taken off the streets
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and this is something that's happening day in, day out, right across the capital
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Now, we didn't plan what we'd see with the Met on this afternoon
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The Met most certainly didn't arrange it for us. It's just the reality of what police are having to respond to
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And this is just one area of the city, over a couple of hours on a random weekday afternoon
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It's sites like this that make people feel unsafe and which online actors capitalise on to make London look lawless
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ysis by King's College London found 258,000 posts contributed to the narrative of London being dangerous
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And that was just on Reddit. When you look at other social media sites
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you can see the scale of both real and AI-generated content being used to depict London as being lawless
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Take a look at this. A toddler in a pram wearing a ski mask
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screaming at a passerby. And there's more. A tourist in the city being attacked by a man
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men in masks and tracksuits sitting in Parliament. Man, them can't just keep quiet when the block's getting squeezed
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Man saying fun's gone, but where? Bruv, you wasted it on your little pet project. Don't chat like it's... Order! Order in the house
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All of these have been AI generated to portray London as a dangerous place
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It's this type of content that the mayor, Sir Sadiq Khan, says is creating an information blizzard about London online
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Today, the captains of the outrage economy have London in their sights
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Narratives describing London as a dangerous city in decline have increased between 150 and 200 percent over the past two years despite the city homicide rate falling to historic lows ysts found that extreme right networks
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were responsible for 39 percent of activity driving key narratives about knife crime in the capital
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despite this falling hugely in recent years. The mayor's office pointed me to official figures
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which also show reductions across London in homicide, gun crime, theft and robbery
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But I wanted to show Sadiq Khan what we'd witnessed across just three hours
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Sadiq Khan, you've said repeatedly that London is not lawless, claiming the label is quite often stirred up
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through disinformation online. And I have a video here of LBC's experience with them at just three hours on one street where we saw two machetes, one flick knife, class A drugs seized and repeat offenders
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Is it not the reality that this is what Londoners are facing? It's not just an online stirring up of disinformation
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Well, there are two big issues raised by your really important question. One is the issue of crime in London and across the country
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And we've got to take it and address it, take it seriously. and so you'll see from City Hall examples of record investment in the Met Police Service
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more than double investment. Why? Because they've been starved of decent funding for 14 years
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We've been trying to fill this massive hole and so that's led to big challenges in terms of crime, particularly high volume crime
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big examples of increases in shoplifting and social behaviour which is why we're addressing this by investment from City Hall
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and now finally over the last year and a half we've got investment from a new government
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which is really welcome as well. and we check this very seriously. Without in any way taken away from our need to address crime in London
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there is also a campaign of disinformation, misinformation from state actors. There's evidence now of China, Russia and MAGA influence being involved
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But also we know that the way these algorithms work from some of these big tech companies
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it monetizes negative messages. messages, so we've got examples now of people in far away Sri Lanka
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and Pakistan and Nepal and China making huge sums of money by churning out
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misinformation and lies about London. We've got to deal with both those issues
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dealing with the issue of crime in London, but also saying to big tech companies
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you can't be profiteering from poison and division. Knife crime in London
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is falling. In fact, overall, official figures show that crime rates are on a downward trajectory
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But does it really feel like that when we see teenagers brandishing machetes, fighting on the high road in front of scared families
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Police are stretched. Youth clubs and intervention programs have been decimated. There is no doubt that fake videos and political rhetoric is driving a notion that the Capitol is unsafe
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For some, it is. But crucially, crime now is more visible than it's ever been
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As soon as it happens, videos end up online and the same repeat offenders are on the streets
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week in, week out. For some neighbourhoods, it's a reality that they've had no choice but to get used to
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while the criminal justice system tries to catch up
