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Major UK retailers including Burberry, John Lewis and Marks and Spencer have called on the Home Secretary to take urgent action to curb a nationwide surge in shoplifting and attendant abuse of staff .
Eighty-eight retail leaders, who run some of the country’s largest employers, are calling for greater police focus on tackling rising retail crime and tougher penalties for offenders.
In a letter to Home Secretary Suela Braverman, they warned that “with an increase in theft, much of it organized crime, violence and abuse[against staff]has reached a level of Unacceptable level”.
The retail industry is calling on the government to make assault or abuse of retail workers a separate crime and for tougher sentences for perpetrators. They are also demanding greater response from police forces across the UK.
Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, which represents the industry, said: “We are seeing organized gangs threatening staff with weapons and emptying shops. We are seeing violence against colleagues who are carrying out their duties and asking for age verification.
“We are seeing a lot of abuse directed at our hard-working store staff. This is simply unacceptable – no one should go to work because they fear for their safety.”
In the case of one major retailer, police data showed police failed to respond in nearly three quarters of reported serious retail crime incidents, according to the BRC. Nearly half of the retailers surveyed in the BRC’s annual crime survey rated police response as “poor” or “very poor”.
According to police data, shoplifting crimes increased by 24% annually in the year to the end of March, but are still below pre-COVID-19 levels. There were 342,000 shoplifting crimes recorded in the 12 months to March, while 375,000 were recorded in the year to March 2019.
Although supermarkets are among the most common victims of shoplifting, other industries such as clothing and luxury goods are increasingly targeted.
Retailers such as Primark and John Lewis have recently warned that crime is squeezing profits. The former expects adjusted operating margins to be around 8.3% in the second half of the year, but said in its latest update that it expected margins to be just under 8% due to increased theft. John Lewis revealed that this month the company’s inventory “shrunk” by 12 million pounds year-on-year.
Chief Superintendent Amanda Blackman, the National Police Chiefs Council’s head of crime buying, said police are committed to tackling criminals and are prioritizing responses to support retailers in reducing shoplifting and assaults on staff.
She added: “Violent crime will never be tolerated and we will prioritize our policing response where there is a risk to individuals.”
“We know that some of these crimes are caused by organized crime and we welcome the cooperation between retailers, police and crime commissioners and policing services through Project Pegasus, which enhances our ability to identify and target relevant groups. Ability. “
Other signatories include Currys, JD Sports, Tesco, Asda, Matalan, Sainsbury’s and Harvey Nichols.
The Interior Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
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