Labour has again challenged the Conservatives over its
Shoplifter's Charter which is leaving criminals to steal with
impunity.
Against the backdrop of record levels of shoplifting - up
more than 30 per cent in a single year - Shadow Policing Minister
has told the Home Secretary
that it's time to finally listen to Labour and scrap the rule
which makes it less likely that police will investigate the theft
of goods under the value of £200.
The rules were introduced by the Tories in 2014 and came as they
slash the number of bobbies on the beat by 10,000. This has left
businesses and retail workers at the mercy of criminals.
Alongside scrapping the Tories' £200 rule, Labour has vowed to
put 13,000 more neighbourhood police and PCSOs back on the
streets and introduce a Community Policing Guarantee to tackle
shoplifting.
Labour's Community Policing
Guarantee means:
-
Police on the beat again
We'll bring back proper neighbourhood policing by ensuring every
part of the country has more local officers and PCSOs, and
guaranteed town centre patrols with tougher powers. We'll give
every community a named officer they can get in touch with, so
policing gets back to what it's supposed to do.
-
Zero tolerance of antisocial behaviour
Getting tough with those who blight our towns, with new powers to
ban repeat offenders from town centres and stamp out public
drinking and drug use. Every local area will have a dedicated
lead focused specifically on tackling anti-social
behaviour.
-
A crackdown on shoplifting and
violence
We'll reverse the Tories' decision to downgrade the response to
shoplifting under £200, making it easier to take action against
repeat offenders and ending the farce of offending impunity,
and creating a new specific offence of assault against retail
workers.
-
Put communities back at the heart of policing
We will give local people and businesses a say in how their local
area and town centre is policed, ensuring the police work with
them on deciding priorities.
-
Make community policing something to be proud
of
We will ensure that the path to career progression in policing is
through getting to know your community – and ensure all
neighbourhood officers are properly trained to be
problem-solvers, not just recorders of crime. We will also work
with the College of Policing and police chiefs to ensure
neighbourhood policing has access to cutting edge technology and
methods, including data analytics and hotspot policing.
Alex Norris MP, Labour's Shadow Policing Minister,
said:
“Under the Tories too many communities and high streets are being
blighted by staggering increases in shoplifting, up 30 per cent
in the last year alone.
“The Conservative government has decimated neighbourhood
policing, leaving our town centres unprotected, and introduced a
rule meaning that shoplifting of goods under £200 isn't being
investigated. This Tory ‘Shoplifter's Charter' has left local
businesses and retail workers at the mercy of criminals.
“Labour has been calling for tougher action on criminals who
assault shopworkers for a decade and the government is only just
waking up to the problem. It's time for the Tories to follow
Labour's lead again and remove the £200 rule and increase town
centre police patrols.
“Labour has set out a Community Policing Guarantee, with 13,000
more neighbourhood police and PCSOs to crackdown on shoplifting
and keep the public safe.”
Ends
Notes:
- Section 176 of the Anti-social
Behaviour, Crime & Policing Act 2014 introduced by Theresa
May established a new category of shoplifting, designated
‘low-value shoplifting' - for shoplifting of goods amounting to
less than £200 in value.
- Under that Act, any incidents
involving goods below £200 would have to be tried as ‘summary
only offences' - meaning that unless the defendant opted for a
Crown Court jury trial, it would automatically be held at the
Magistrates' Court. The police could charge the cases, and they
would also be eligible for the Single Justice Procedure, meaning
that a defendant could plead guilty by post and pay a small fine
- thereby avoiding a court appearance.
- The move was designed to ease
pressure on the courts and allow the CJS to focus on higher-harm
offenders. However in practice, it has acted as a signal to the
police to deprioritise any enforcement for shoplifting of goods
below £200 at all – even in cases of repeat and organised
shoplifting - with arrests for theft offences falling from
136,000 in 2018 to just 78,000 in 2022.
- By scrapping this sub-category of
shoplifting, we will end the farce of repeat shoplifting below
£200 going unpunished, and repeat serious and organised criminals
avoiding court. It will make it easier to prioritise repeat and
organised shoplifting whatever the level of any individual theft
so it can be properly dealt with - whilst ensuring that non-court
sanctions including pleading guilty by post are reserved for
first-time offenders, rather than serious repeat criminals.
