Citizen’s arrests a ‘high-risk’ solution to shoplifting, say independent retailers

Muntazir Dipoti, national president of the Federation of Independent Retailers, said: “When shop staff challenge thieves they are often subject to abuse and sometimes assault. We tell our staff to never try to physically stop a crime.

“It goes without saying that we would never want our customers to expose themselves to this high risk either.”

Speaking at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester this week, Policing Minister Chris Philp urged members of the public to make citizen’s arrests if they spot shoplifters.

Addressing a fringe event hosted by the Policy Exchange think-tank, Mr Philp said: “The wider public do have the power of citizen’s arrest and, where it’s safe to do so, I would encourage that to be used because if you do just let people walk in, take stuff and walk out without proper challenge, including potentially a physical challenge, then again it will just escalate.

“While I want the faster and better police response, the police can’t be everywhere all the time.”

But Mr Dipoti said the answer to the runaway increase in shoplifting is increased resources for the police and judiciary, together with better CCTV and other security to help police with their investigations.

“We want the police to be able to attend more crimes and quickly,” he said. “But the Federation is urging the UK and Scottish governments to provide a £1,500 grant to small shops which can’t afford the security they need.”

The minister said he is also planning to tackle crime levels by enabling facial CCTV images to be matched with information on passport and other government databases.

However, creating an IT system for this will take about two years.

Mr Philp’s comments come as a new report from the British Independent Retailers Association (BIRA) reveals a surge in retail crime over the past 12 months that was “negatively impacting” independent shops across sectors and locations .

BIRA, which works with more than 6,000 independent businesses of all sizes across the UK, surveyed its members to get a snapshot of how stores have been hit by “epidemic levels” of retail crime.

The survey showed that 40 per cent of shop owners or staff had experienced verbal abuse, while 6.5 per cent had come up against physical harm from customers in the past year – which has included being spat at, assaulted or having shop items thrown at them.

Of those physically abused, 82 per cent decided to not report it to police, while those that did, said it did not lead to prosecution (18 per cent).

The results also showed that 70 per cent of those who had experienced verbal abuse said it has got worse in the past 12 months compared with the previous year, while 50 per cent of those who suffered physical abuse said it had worsened.

Of those verbally abused – which included intimidation, swearing and aggressive behaviour, being threatened with violence and being shouted at – 66 per cent did not report the offence to police. For those that were reported, 50 per cent of shopkeepers said that police did not attend, while 42 per cent had police attend the scene but no prosecutions taking place.

When questioned, many shop owners said that they “didn’t see the point” in reporting it as “nothing happens” and they did not believe that the police would be interested.

Others said there was “no police presence, and they didn’t feel that the police cared”.

Items being taken from shops also are being shown to be varied, with reports of everything from hire products such as tools not being returned, to fashion items, gift sets and children’s toys, to balls of wool, books, knives, kettles, cleaning products, and even plants taken from over a shop’s fencing.

Retailers have also described it as ranging from “multiple small thefts” to the items being taken by schoolchildren, middle-aged women and older men, to gangs running into stores and carrying out the items. One even reported that their own staff had taken money from them.

Most thefts (50 per cent) were items costing up to £100 , with most items were reported to be stolen during opening hours (87 per cent), while just three per cent were break-ins.

The survey also showed that seven per cent of respondents had experienced cybercrime in the last 12 months either through fraudulent transactions, good purchased on stolen cards, and even company credit cards being used.

One shopkeeper said: “Thieves do not fear being seen, challenged or caught, so feel quite at liberty to take larger items, up to around £200 each time.” Another noted that “they know the police will do nothing”.

Andrew Goodacre, chief executive of BIRA, said: “Retail crime, such as theft and aggravated behaviour, seems to be reaching epidemic levels but there does seem to be more of an organised element to it.

“Larger retailers are able to continuously improve their security measures, with security staff and preventative measures as they have the budgets available to do so.

“However, for the smaller retailers, this is not possible and so they become even more of a target choice for criminals. and are left more vulnerable to being targeted.

“In recent years, shop crime has not been a priority for the police and crime commissioners but they need to sit up and listen. Our shop owners are hard-working and are getting abused and stolen from almost on a daily basis.

“This isn’t a victimless crime and livelihoods and our high streets are a stake here. My worry is that on the run-up to Christmas, this is only going to get worse.”

In September, police forces across England and Wales pledged to pursue every lead that holds a ‘reasonable chance of apprehending criminals and solving crimes’ and said that this ‘back-to-basics’ approach would mark a significant milestone in addressing the rising concerns of retail crime, particularly theft and violence.

This week, UK retail bosses also asked for a meeting with the Home Secretary to press for a new offence of assaulting or abusing staff.