Around 1,000 police officers in London are being deployed at the start of school term to help protect students from theft on their way to and from school.
The initiative is part of an awareness campaign launched on Monday to help reduce street crime, particularly among vulnerable young people.
From 5 September until half-term on 21 October around 1,000 police officers and community support officers will be deployed each day specifically to protect pupils as they make their way home from school, the Metropolitan Police said. They will be a prominent presence outside schools and public transport hubs.
Despite a reduction in the overall crime rate in the capital there has been a worrying increase in street robbery, the police service said. Smart phones and digital media players, as well as gold jewellery, are the most common items to be stolen on the street.
The Metropolitan Police are focusing on pupils starting secondary school, as 11 year-olds starting at their new schools are now making longer journeys than before, or have new phones.
Assistant Commissioner Ian McPherson, head of the Met's Territorial Policing, said they are asking young people to take 'basic precautions' to help prevention: "Young people, especially secondary school-aged children are also targeted - usually after school by other young people".
The Met has been working with the mobile phone industry to see how tracking apps could reduce street crime or find stolen mobile phones. Recently, police have found a number of theft suspects in possession of stolen phones and tablets after the owner activated tracking software.