Retailers welcome new report aimed at tackling retail crime

The Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) has just published its Tackling Business and Retail Crime ‘In Focus’ report, which includes a range of case studies that demonstrate the many collaborative and evidence-based approaches being implemented to address retail crime.

The Federation said its officials and members have been meeting with their respective PCCs in recent months to impress upon them the “urgent need to tackle attacks and shoplifting, which have soared to epidemic proportions”.

The APCC’s national business and retail crime lead Katy Bourne said: “With current levels of retail crime on high streets rising and retail staff facing the consequences of shoplifters’ brazen behaviour, this new ‘In Focus’ report demonstrates how PCCs are approaching the issue and holding their forces to account for their work to respond to and investigate retail crime, as set out within the Government’s Retail Crime Action Plan.

“The British Retail Consortium’s recent crime survey showed a 50 per cent increase in the levels of retail violence and abuse – to 1,300 incidents a day – with the cost of theft to retailers rising to £1.8 billion (from £953 million the previous year).

“It is now, more than ever, that policing needs to work effectively with businesses to tackle this deluge of shop thefts, assaults and criminality.”

Ms Bourne, the PCC for Sussex, added: “Nationally, all police forces have now signed up to the Retail Crime Action Plan, which clearly sets out how officers should response to shoplifting. PCCs up and down the country can now utilise the action plan to hold our forces to account for how they respond and investigate retail crime.

“We also cannot shy away from the increasing and significant threat to retailers from organised criminal gangs. These criminals operate across many retailers and multiple police force borders, which is why, last year, I established a unique national business/police partnership called Pegasus to scope the true scale of organised retail crime.”

A wide range of techniques and approaches have been adopted by PCCs, such as introducing new technology to identify offenders, implementing new education programmes to reduce the rate of crime, and changing how police forces respond to calls and incidences.

One example from the report highlights the Violence Reduction Partnership in West Yorkshire, which introduced forensic marking technology to tag individuals and objects with unique forensic codes to help identify any items or subjects involved in criminality. This has already reduced the number of calls related to shoplifting by 44 per cent in three months following its introduction at Wakefield city centre, and the report notes that there is a great potential for it to improve these rates even further.

The Federation of Independent Retailers national president Muntazir Dipoti said: “We have held numerous meetings with PCCs all over England and Wales to highlight the number of retail crime incidents our members experience day in, day out.

“It is pleasing to discover that the APCC is taking this matter seriously and that police forces are now being held to account in an effort to clamp down on offenders.”

The Federation recently launched its Safe, Secure, Supported campaign calling for government grants of up to £1,500 to help smaller retailers improve their security measures, including effective CCTV systems.

The Association of Convenience Stores chief executive James Lowman said: “We strongly welcome the focus on retail crime in this report, highlighting the work that PCCs are doing across England and Wales to make a difference on retail crime.

“We’ve been pushing for action to support retailers in reporting and tackling crime for several years, so it is encouraging to see progress being made in this area.

“Implementing the Retail Crime Action Plan is a strong start, but we need to ensure that barriers to reporting are removed and prolific offenders are identified quickly so they can be apprehended by the police and the full extent of their crimes accounted for.”