86 retail leaders have signed a letter to the Home
Secretary, , demanding action over
rising rates of retail crime.
The 2023 BRC Crime Survey showed that incidents of violence and
abuse towards retail colleagues had almost doubled on
pre-pandemic levels to 867 incidents every day in 2021/22. It
also put the scale of retail theft at £953m, despite over £700m
in crime prevention spending by retailers. This meant the total
cost of retail crime stood at a whopping £1.76bn for the 12-month
period to April.
The situation has clearly got worse; a separate BRC survey of
members in 2023 found that levels of shoplifting in ten major
cities had risen by an average of 27%. This is not to mention the
cascade of recent press stories detailing the wave of theft and
violence currently impacting shops across the UK.
The retail industry is making two demands of Government:
- For the Government to create a
standalone offence of assaulting or abusing a retail
worker, with tougher sentences for offenders. This
would act as a deterrent and provide a clear message that
parliament will not tolerate this behaviour. It would also
require police forces to record all incidents of retail crime,
allowing for better allocation of resources to the
issue.
-
Greater prioritisation of retail crime by police forces
across the UK. For one major retailer, the
police's own data shows that they failed to respond to 73% of
serious retail crimes that were reported. 44% of retailers in
the BRC’s annual crime survey rated the police response as
‘poor’ or ‘very poor’.
Helen Dickinson, Chief Executive of the British Retail
Consortium, said:
“It is vital that action is taken before the scourge of retail
crime gets any worse. We are seeing organised gangs threatening
staff with weapons and emptying stores. We are seeing violence
against colleagues who are doing their job and asking for
age-verification. We are seeing a torrent of abuse aimed at
hardworking shop staff. It’s simply unacceptable – no one should
have to go to work fearing for their safety.
“It’s time the Government put their words into action. We need to
see a standalone offence for assaulting or abusing a retail
worker – as exists in Scotland. We need Government to stand with
the millions of retail workers who kept us safe and fed during
the pandemic – and support them, as those workers supported us.”
-ENDS-
Read the letter here: https://brc.org.uk/media/683464/letter-to-the-home-secretary-retail-crime-september-2023.pdf
