The co-op said it had experienced almost 300,000 incidents of shoplifting, abuse, violence and anti-social behavior this year. Photo: Hannah Mackay/REUTERS
Police do not show up in three out of four cases where store workers apprehend criminals robbing stores.
New Co-op data shows retail crime is worsening compared to the previous year. Important festive season amid growing concerns about police inaction.
The supermarket said there were almost 300,000 incidents of theft, abuse, violence and anti-social behavior across its 2,400 stores this year – a 43% increase. than last year. -year.
This marks an increase from July, when cases were up 35% year-on-year and 175,000 incidents were reported.
Co-op bosses warned the “upward trajectory” suggested the festive season could mean a further rise in shoplifting and assaults on staff. The store has also seen an increase in hate crimes, including homophobic, racist and misogynistic abuse towards workers.
Matt Hood, managing director of Co-op Food, said it was vital that police visited these Events. incidents, committing to stopping retail crime.
The Co-op's latest figures highlight the failure of many forces to take wrongdoing seriously. The data showed that in-store teams have caught serious offenders nearly 3,000 times this year. The police did not show up in 76% of cases.
Matt Hood, managing director of the Co-op, says it is vital that police live up to their responsibilities to tackle retail crime. Photo: John Super
Mr Hood said: “We urgently need to see this in action in our stores so that my colleagues on the frontline respond to desperate calls to the police and criminals begin to understand that their actions have real consequences.”
Cooperative leaders suggested that offenders became emboldened even more when they realized that the police were not looking into these cases.
Paul Gerrard, the Co-op's director of communications, said: “It's actually worse than us not detaining them at all because it means these people are going to leave the shops saying we knew that the police won't show up.” and they didn't. And although the cooperative security teams detained me, they never showed up.”
Industry group the British Retail Consortium said the latest data is “the latest in a long line of evidence showing the urgency of the situation”. decisive action is needed to combat retail crime.”
BRC Assistant Director of Business and Regulatory Affairs Graham Wynne said: “The situation is clearly getting worse – thieves are becoming bolder and more aggressive.”
He said this was forcing retailers to spend extra pounds. $700 million for security officers, CCTV systems, security tags and other crime-fighting measures to try to reduce crime, adding that it is “money that would be better spent on lowering prices for customers.”
Major retailers have stepped up efforts to reduce crime and earlier this year announced partnerships with police to try to collect data on serial offenders.
As part of the Project Pegasus scheme, retailers including Co-op John Lewis and Next have agreed to spend £840,000 to fund a team that can examine their CCTV footage and data to help identify criminals. The Home Office will provide £30,000 of funding this financial year for the project, which is part of the Retail Crime Action Plan.
This is the result of a survey of 100 retailers with a turnover of over £100m by Retail Economics, and security firm Thruvision claims the wider retail industry could suffer losses of up to £3.2bn due to staff theft this year amid a wave of shoplifting. , warehouses and distribution centers.
Rising costs of living have been blamed for the rise in employee theft, which has led to a rise in thefts of food and small goods, as well as organized crime targeting retailers' warehouses and supply chains, and a feeling that police will do little to help – presenters crimes must remain undetected.
“We've had cases where, for example, fires were set in distribution centers, which caused mass exodus of employees and allowed these organized gangs, or these people at those times, to be hired by gangs to steal stock,” says Nicholas Found, senior consultant at Retail Economics.
Total UK retail sales are just under £440 billion, according to the BRC.
Total UK retail sales are just under £440 billion, according to the BRC.
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A Home Office spokesman said: “Shoplifting is a problem in our communities. “It's hurting businesses, it's hurting our high streets and the Police Minister has made it clear that police must take a zero-tolerance approach.”
The Retail Crime Action Plan will reduce crime and increase public confidence in the police response when it does occur. The police will visit more crime scenes, patrol the most affected areas and use all reasonable investigative techniques to catch more criminals.”
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