The additional officers will provide a visible presence outside schools, in and around transport hubs and on buses to reassure young people and give them tips on how to keep safe.
Help will be especially focused on Year 7 pupils (11-year-olds) just starting secondary school. The move is an attempt to counter a seasonal increase in the number of young people whose mobile phones are stolen after leaving school.
And police say that while overall crime in London is falling, there has been a recent rise in street robbery, particularly thefts of high-value smartphones and digital media players.
Assistant commissioner Ian McPherson, head of territorial policing, said: "We take street crime very seriously – being robbed can be a traumatic experience and so tackling it is a key priority for us and we are doing everything we can through enforcement, education and prevention to address it."
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