‘Ongoing rise’ in retails crime in Scotland despite more than 1,300 arrests

Shoplifting offences have risen by 19 per cent compared with the previous year despite improved detection rates, increasing arrest numbers and enhanced retailer confidence in reporting incidents, said Police Scotland.

Police Scotland’s Retail Crime Taskforce was launched in April 2025  and in its first 12 months of operation, the Taskforce’s four-strand approach to prevent, pursue, protect and prepare has resulted in more than 6,400 charges for retail crime, with the detection rate having risen to just under 51 per cent, compared with 49 per cent the previous year.

Inspector Emma Wright, tactical lead for the Retail Crime Taskforce, said: “There have been successes across the country in the first 12 months of the Taskforce as part of our ongoing efforts to tackle retail crime.

“The efforts of the unit and work carried out by local divisions has resulted in a significant number of detections of both shoplifting offences and offences against retail workers.

“While we continue to see an increase in the number of shopliftings reported, there are indications that this is in part due to an increased confidence in reporting from retailers and the resulting police response.”

Police Scotland said the Taskforce will now work alongside local policing divisions and a range of key partners and stakeholders to “improve security on-site for retail premises, enhance the safety of retail workers and use all resources at their disposal to undertake effective enforcement activity against retail crime offenders”.

In addition, dedicated Taskforce resources are now in place within Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Tayside to ensure areas most adversely affected by retail crime are being fully supported.

The unit was established following an initial £3 million funding and earlier this year, the Scottish government announced and additional £9 million in funding to Police Scotland to tackle retail crime over the next three years, meaning the Retail Crime Taskforce will operate until at least 2029.

Year two for the Retail Crime Taskforce will see significant changes to the way that retail premises can report crime to police, through the use of an online reporting form to directly report incidents of shop theft.

This form was developed by Police Scotland’s Contact, Command and Control Division and allows retailers to report incidents where a shoplifting has occurred and there is no ongoing threat or risk to safety.

Police Scotland says not only will this reduce the time businesses need to wait for reporting a crime, it will also assist in reducing demand on call handling, allowing for priority calls to be better serviced.

Insp Wright said: “The additional three years of funding received from the Scottish government will enable us to continue our efforts to reduce shoplifting and provide support and education to businesses across the country.

“We want to thank retailers for their continued support and engagement as we collaboratively tackle the issue of retail crime.

“We cannot and will not become complacent and we recognise that further work is needed to reduce the number of offences occurring across Scotland. We take these offences extremely seriously and through continued partnership working we strive to make our communities a hostile environment for retail crime offenders.”