Police professional | Shoplifting at the highest level in 20 years

Shoplifting at the highest level in 20 years

Police-recorded shoplifting in England and Wales has risen to its highest level in 20 years.

Photo: Federation of Independent Retailers

In the year ending June 2024, 469,788 shoplifting incidents were recorded by police, a 29 percent increase on the 365,173 offenses in the previous year.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that this highest figure since the start of current police recording practices in the year ending March 2003 was mainly the reason for a three percent increase in total thefts (to 1 .8 million).

Minister for Crime, Police and Fire Dame Diana Johnson said the statistics showed the “scale of the challenge in making streets safer”.

“Too many town centers have been decimated by record levels of shoplifting, and communities have been rocked by rising levels of knife crime, theft and robbery. This cannot continue,” she said.

“This Government will restore community policing across the country, put thousands of extra dedicated officers on the streets and remove the £200 threshold for shoplifting, ending effective impunity for thieves who steal low-value goods.”

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, who chaired her first meeting of the National Police Council this week, says the government will legislate to create a standalone criminal offense for assaulting a shop worker, and section 176 of the Anti -Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 will be repealed. make it clear that all shoplifting is illegal and remove the perception that those who shoplift will escape punishment.

While shoplifting remains at a record high, the Home Office says the number of charges for this crime has increased significantly (by 56 percent), demonstrating that police are taking this crime more seriously and are stepping up enforcement activities. But more needs to be done, he says.

The Home Office said: “We will reinvigorate cooperation between police and retailers by establishing a Retail Crime Forum, to help boost initiatives such as Pegasus and identify what more needs to be done to protect communities.”

The latest estimates from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) show that while most types of crime showed no statistically significant change, there was a notable increase in the number of robberies, assault and battery and consumer and retail fraud.

Robberies returned to levels last seen before the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, rising to an estimated 139,000 incidents, compared with 60,000 incidents in the year ending June 2023, although the ONS said police-recorded crime was the “preferred source for theft”. These figures show that robberies have increased by six percent (to 81,931 offences) compared to the year ending June 2023 (77,106 offences)

Violence with injury also returned to pre-pandemic levels, increasing to an estimated 562,000 incidents, compared to around 376,000 offenses in the previous 12 months.

Consumer and retail fraud increased by 19 percent, reaching approximately 963,000 incidents.

The number of homicides decreased slightly (562 crimes) compared to the hearing ending in June 2023 (578 crimes).

The number of offenses involving knives or sharp instruments (excluding Greater Manchester Police) increased by four per cent (to 50,973 offences) compared to 49,187 the previous year. This was two percent lower than the year ending March 2020 (51,982 violations)

The number of crimes involving firearms fell by five percent to 5,996, compared with 6,327 crimes in the year ending June 2023.