Shoplifting offences in England and Wales at 20-year high

There were 443,995 shoplifting offences recorded by the police in year ending March 2024 – a 30 per cent increase compared with the previous year (342,428 offences).

The figure is the highest since comparable records began in 2003, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Findings from the Commercial Victimisation Survey 2023 also indicated recent rises. An estimated 26 per cent of premises in the wholesale and retail sector experienced customer theft during the previous 12 months, a “statistically significant increase” of 20 per cent compared with 2014, the ONS said.

Superintendent Andy Sidebotham, College of Policing lead for Local Policing said: “Shoplifting is not a victimless crime and throughout policing we fully recognise the impact it has on retailers and communities.

“The College of Policing has produced retail crime guidance which will help drive down crimes rates, improve investigations, and commit forces to follow all reasonable lines of enquiry. Our guidance is intended to further support officers to identify criminals, gather evidence and help bring those responsible to justice.

“Police now prioritise attending thefts where the offender has been detained by store staff, where violence has been used, or where evidence like CCTV is available.

“There is also an increased focus on giving businesses a voice in the criminal justice process through impact statements, and explaining to prosecutors and courts how retail theft is affecting them and their customers.

“We recognise shoplifting is of major public concern, and that’s why we’ve boosted our guidance, provided additional support, and are clear on the investigative standards expected. There is more to do, and we will continue to focus attention on this crime.”

Overall, victim-based crime has generally decreased over the past ten years with some notable exceptions, such as sexual assault.

Latest estimates from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) showed that there were around 8.8 million incidents of headline crime (which includes theft, robbery, criminal damage, fraud, computer misuse and violence with or without injury) in the year ending March 2024.

This was 22 per cent lower compared with the year ending March 2017 (the earliest comparable year for CSEW headline crime, including fraud and computer misuse).

“Looking at the short-term picture, there has been no change across many crime types in the last year,” the ONS said.

“However, we have seen falls in fraud while seeing increases in computer misuse and some forms of theft, such as shoplifting and theft from the person. Notably, shoplifting has continued to see increases and remains at its highest level in 20 years.”

In addition, robbery, offences involving knives or sharp instruments and offences involving firearms have also increased over the last year while remaining below pre-Covid-19 pandemic levels.

“Although the latest data showed there was no “statistically significant change” in CSEW headline crime compared with year ending March 2023, there were changes in fraud, computer misuse and theft from the person. The data showed that:

• Fraud decreased by ten per cent, with reductions in bank and credit account fraud (12 ten per cent), advance fee fraud (23 per cent), and other fraud (39 per cent).
• Computer misuse increased by 37 per cent, mainly because of a 42 per cent rise in unauthorised access to personal information.
• While there were no statistically significant changes in overall theft, there was a 40 per cent increase in the sub-category of theft from the person.

“Experiences of domestic abuse, sexual assault and stalking among people aged 16 years and over are presented separately in our statistics as prevalence estimates,”said the ONS. “While over the last ten years there has been a gradual decrease in domestic abuse, there has been an increase in sexual assault. Latest estimates from the CSEW for year ending March 2024 showed no statistically significant change compared with the previous year:

• 4.8 per cent (approximately 2.3 million people) had experienced some form of domestic abuse in the last 12 months);
• 3.2 per cent (approximately 1.5 million people) had experienced stalking; and
• 2.1 per cent (approximately one million people) had experienced sexual assault.

“Although police recorded crime does not tend to be a good indicator of general trends in crime, it can give more insight into lower-volume, but higher-harm offences reported to the police, including those that the survey does not cover or capture well,” said the ONS.

Data for year ending March 2024 showed:

• The number of homicides were similar (583 offences) compared with year ending March 2023 (581 offences);
• Offences involving knives or sharp instruments (excluding Greater Manchester Police) increased by four per cent (to 50,510 offences) compared with the previous year (48,409 offences); this was three per cent lower than year ending March 2020 (51,982 offences);
• Offences involving firearms (excluding Devon and Cornwall Police) increased by six per cent (to 6,268 offences) compared with year ending March 2023 (5,917 offences), attributed mainly to a 24 per cent increase in imitation firearms; and
• Robbery offences increased by eight per cent (to 81,019 offences) compared with year ending March 2023 (75,012 offences).