UK crime: shop lifting hits record high

Abuse and violence against shop workers has risen by 50 percent to a staggering 1,300 incidents a day – according to a survey by the British Retail Consortium.

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These range from racial abuse and sexual harassment to physical assault and threats with weapons. Shoplifting has also shot up to its highest on record. Retailers say the government’s response has been “woefully inadequate”.
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shops are under siege from big chains like the co-op to small stores like this one in Kent look at the way she’s Bing the no shame for shopkeepers seil Su the rent is rising the cost of electric is up and this Valentine’s Day the Heartbreak is being caused by persistent shoplifters emotionally it hurts me a lot because every piece of merchandise we lose to shoplifters there’s a loss to the business have any of your staff being attacked yes multi times you know they punch the staff and still take the basket away and do you have faith in the police yes I do have trust in them but not in terms of taking action against the shoplifters and that’s why shoplifters are becoming more courageous here things have gotten so bad the store has erected this Wall of Shame outside so on this aisle alone there is a camera just behind me and another in front of me in the entire store there’s about 20 surveillance cameras and on the door is a sign that says that thieves will be prosecuted the problem is they know that they won’t be and this comes at huge cost research by the British retail Consortium found record levels of crime in shops shoplifting doubled in 2023 to more than 16 million in incidents a year the BRC estimates that this has cost retailers more than1 billion and its staff who pay the price with more than 1,000 violent or abusive incidents against shop workers a day what we’re seeing is a real epidemic of of issues being caused by the fact that there just isn’t the response that is needed from the police the followup and there is really um no deterrent cameras are becoming more shop decoration than deterrent and the problem is that even when the police forces arrive very little follows why are you failing to tackle shoplifting I think the police have a lot of demand and on their time undoubtedly you know most criminals will hone their skills by stealing in the first instance uh and they will then move on to other types of crime and we’re seeing it now with the organized gangs who are highly organized know this is happening on an industrial scale so it is time now for policing to really understands the threat the risk that this poses and the impact Brands like boots have now spent heavily on Tech any evidence of theft will be given to police last year the number of prosecutions increased but 93% of reported offenses were not prosecuted now police have a new action plan the home office say there will be more patrols especially where violence has occurred and a greater use of fatal recognition software but due to the large numbers of offenses and the Court’s backlog just how possible is justice