Renewed focus needed

The Crime and Policing Act is now law, strengthening protections for retailers, their staff and communities they serve. It marks a welcome, if overdue, step forward for Britain’s struggling high streets.

Passing a law is only the first step. To achieve real change, we must be clear-eyed about the challenge and focus efforts where they will have the greatest impact.

There are three key tools we have at our disposal to start delivering the right outcomes.

First, focus on repeat offenders. Most retail crime is not being driven by local, one-off offenders stealing a sandwich for lunch. The reality is that a small number of organised, prolific offenders are responsible for most of the harm.

Around 70 per cent of retail crime is committed by just ten per cent of offenders. They are also four times more likely to be violent, threatening staff with physical attacks and weapons, including knives or bottles.

Prolific and organised offenders aren’t store or brand loyal, they have an impact on all retailers, regardless of town, jurisdiction or region. Single offenders commit crimes at stores from London to Manchester to Edinburgh.

This is exactly why no retailer can fight this alone. When big brands act collectively, they’re not just protecting themselves, they’re identifying the same offenders who target the independent retailers that rarely have the resources to fight back. This collective approach to tackling the problem supports the entire community.

The police are already spread thinly, responding to a seemingly endless stream of one-off reports of offences. We need to help police focus their resources on the top ten per cent of offenders plaguing our communities

The Bill gives police stronger backing. But this must be matched with a relentless focus on linking the hundreds of these apparently ‘one-off’ offences to the prolific offenders committing them and stealing the vibrancy of our town centres in the process.

Second, embrace technology rapidly to keep ahead of the crooks. The only way to see the true scale of this widespread offending and connect the dots to those top offenders is by consistent reporting from retailers. Then technology can rapidly and digitally bridge the information gap to get on top of fast-moving organised crime.

Once police have all the intelligence, they can identify the patterns, the highest harm offenders, and begin to prevent rather than simply respond to the issue.

Retail crime today is organised, mobile and sophisticated. Yet in many cases, information about incidents is trapped in spreadsheets, paper files, USB sticks or exchanged in WhatsApp groups, or unsecured emails. That fragmentation has allowed criminals to stay anonymous – and anonymity is how criminals thrive.

The Government is right to encourage closer working between police and retailers. But collaboration needs to be operational, daily and powered by secure technology – it is the critical enabler that can assist police deal with such a volumetric problem.

For too long, retail managers, staff and shoppers have felt defenceless in the face of organised gangs of thieves. The Prime Minister’s recent remarks about technology calling time on the “shoplifting free-for-all” will have struck a chord with store workers who have been threatened, shoved or assaulted while simply doing their job.

Finally, we need to drop the language that trivialises this crisis. The word “shoplifting” sounds almost quaint, like a naughty rite of passage for young scamps. These words utterly fail to capture what’s really happening. What we’re dealing with is organised retail crime, frequently violent, often linked to wider criminal enterprises that resell stolen goods to fund drugs, gangs and exploitation.

Words shape priorities. If we characterise this as low-level crime, it will always be treated as such. Tell that to the shop worker who goes to work fearing abuse, or the independent retailer pushed to the brink after repeated attacks.

This Bill shows the Government understands the scale of the problem. To make it count, we must focus on the repeat offenders doing the most damage, break down the walls between policing and technology, and start calling this crime what it really is.

Police do a fantastic job. They put themselves in harm’s way every day to keep us all safe. Retailers are on the front line of this problem and invest millions every day tackling the issue. We should all want them to be as efficient and effective as possible. This isn’t a blame game; it’s a contest that we must all win if our neighbourhoods are to thrive.

Our high streets are the hearts of our communities. They deserve nothing less.

Mark Gleeson is vice-president UK and Europe at retail crime intelligence company Auror.

Shoplifting still unacceptably high, say retailers

The Federation of Independent Retailers (the Fed) says that despite a small reduction in the number of recorded shoplifting offences in England and Wales, the figures are still shocking.

Recent  data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that the number of offences recorded by police decreased by one per cent to 509,566 in the year ending December 2025, compared with the previous year’s 516,611.

The Fed’s National President Hetal Patel said: “There is continued evidence that incidents of shoplifting are levelling off, but it clearly remains unacceptably high.

“The drop in the number of recorded offences is obviously a step in the right direction but follows a 20 per cent increase in offences last year, so there clearly is no room for complacency.

“We are glad the Government has acted on our lobbying to remove the £200 threshold and introduced the standalone offence of assaulting a shop worker.

“What is perhaps especially heartening is that there has been an increase in the overall charge volumes for shoplifting by 17 per cent and also an increase in charge rates proportionately.

“It is also positive that there has been an apparent shift in resources, with 3,000 officers now being reported as serving in neighbourhood roles.

We’re dealing with organised retail crime, frequently violent, often linked to wider criminal enterprises that resell stolen goods to fund drugs, gangs and exploitation

“We want to work with the Government to ensure they are serving on the frontline, not always focused on paperwork, and providing rapid, meaningful support when theft and violence impacts our members.”

Mr Patel said he recognised that retail crime has complex causes – often linked to drugs and deprivation – but the establishment of a new National Police Service to challenge organised crime could be useful.

He added: “We raised these concerns in a meeting with the Police and Crime Minister in December 2025 and we continue our call for the Government and opposition parties to pledge support for targeted retail security grants, so our members can deter thieves.”

Lucy Whing, Crime Policy Adviser at the BRC, said: “Retail theft is a significant challenge for retailers, with our own figures showing 5.5 million detected incidents of theft last year. While ONS figures likely underestimate the issue, as it only captures reported incidents, it aligns with our own data showing high levels of shoplifting in recent years.

“The causes are manifold, but the rise in organised crime is particularly worrying as gangs systematically target one store after another across the country.

“Retail theft also contributes to rising levels of violence and abuse against staff, with 1,600 incidents every day. Fortunately, there are some signs of progress, with the government and the police taking steps to address retail crime through the Crime and Policing Bill which will soon receive Royal Assent. The proposed legislation will abolish the £200 threshold for so-called ‘low-level’ theft, reinforcing that all shoplifting is unacceptable. It will also create a specific offence for assaulting retail workers, leading to tougher sentences and better recognition of the issue, enabling police to allocate appropriate resources. It is vital that the police make full use of this new legislation so we can bring these numbers down once and for all.”