The Minister for Crime, Policing and Fire ():...The Government do take it
seriously—I certainly do, as does the Home Secretary. In fact,
just a couple of days ago—I think it was on Monday—I chaired a
meeting of the national retail crime steering group, bringing
together the retail industry and law enforcement to sharpen our
response to retail crime. It was attended by, among others, the
British Retail Consortium, the Association of Convenience Stores
and representatives of all kinds of retailers, as well as
Police and Crime
Commissioners and various people from the policing
family. We discussed a number of things, one of which was the
impact of section 156 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts
Act 2022, which made assaulting a public-facing
worker—particularly retail workers, but also others, such as bus
drivers—a statutory aggravating factor. That, again, is designed
to send a signal to the public as well as to the police and the
judiciary that such crimes are taken seriously. During that
meeting, we considered an article that appeared over the weekend
in The Times by Dame , the chair of John Lewis,
raising concerns about this matter. We talked about the need for
a proper police response at all times when shoplifting occurs...
...To repeat the point on goods that are stolen with a value
under £200, the previous Policing Minister, my right hon. Friend
the Member for North West Hampshire (), wrote to all chief constables and Police and Crime
Commissioners to make it clear that section 176 does not
restrain the police’s ability to arrest and prosecute. Further to
that, in 2020 the National Business Crime Centre surveyed police
forces in England and Wales, asking if they had a policy of not
responding to shoplifting where goods are worth less than £200.
No police force said that it had any such policy, which is
reassuring. However, I want to make sure that the practice on the
ground is appropriate. I was concerned by the points raised by
Dame , the chair of John Lewis, in
her article in The Times over the weekend, saying that she felt
the police response was not adequate. That is why I will have
further discussions with the relevant NPCC leads and others in
the near future...
For context, OPEN HERE
