Walworth pupils are being “targeted” by robbers after school, a local secondary school has warned.
Local people say they now “expect” violent muggings while parents are scared to let their children walk home from school.
Ark Walworth Academy warned of “several incidents of… attempted street robberies” and advised children to conceal their phones, in a letter to parents.
The school is urging the Met to provide “additional patrols” with police reportedly “working hard to provide this service”.
Local resident Jackie Percival, 56, said: “I’ve noticed that there’s boys on bikes that are covering their faces.
“They stand on the corners of the street watching and, as soon as it gets to a certain time, they don’t care. They just grab their phones.”
Akeem Kareem, a 45-year-old father-of-two, said he worried about his children’s safety.
“Yeah,” he said. “Because you’re coming out your door and you see people smoking weed, drugs around the corner.
“You see police notices everywhere but they don’t abide by it.”
North Walworth, one of the borough’s most deprived areas, is consistently one of the Southwark’s most crime-ridden wards.
Last month was the second worst of the year seeing 255 offences including seventeen robberies.
Local young person Ruth, 18, said: “My friend in secondary school. He was in a block of flats and he got mugged in the elevator. They beat him up and stole his EarPods!”
Her sister Princess, 26, claimed some pizza takeaways no longer delivered to their home after a pizza man was robbed.
“We’ve seen a lot actually… I could write a book,” she said.
To stem the flow of crime, the Met Police has told the News it will more than double the number of Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) patrolling the streets.
Currently, there are just 25 PCSOs, a figure set to rise to 69 in 2024/25.
They have fewer powers to arrest than police officers but can issue fines and be lookouts.
In Dulwich, local parents formed an anti-mugging task-force patrolling the streets to keep children safe.
Dulwich parents start daily street patrols to stop kids getting mugged
Jackie Percival said “more policing” was key. But asked what the solution was, local mum Angela Saggers, 55, said: “I can’t see the police are doing much because it’s just getting worse and worse and worse.”
But Akeem Kareem said the nation’s socio-economic malaise was to blame for crime: “You can’t really get the proper housing you want. They’re making it more difficult for people to climb on the ladder now.”
The Met Police was approached for comment.