The crime reporting line charity Crimestoppers is launching a campaign to highlight a new law covering Scotland’s retail workers, and to encourage anonymous reporting. It follows the passing of the Protection of Workers (Scotland) Bill and recent findings from the retail workers’ trade union USDAW which saw an average of 15 shop staff assaulted in Scotland every day.
As passed by the Holyrood Government, a new offence comes into force on August 24 that carries a fine or prison sentence for an attack on retail workers. If the retail worker was enforcing a statutory age restriction at the time of a crime, more of a penalty may be imposed.
The law cropped up during the hearings by the Home Affairs Committee of MPs, which as part of their inquiry into abuse and violence against retail staff looked into whether England and Wales ought to have a similar law; as featured in the June print edition of Professional Security. The MPs’ report described the Scottish law as a ‘potential starting point’ and urged the Westminster Government to look into it.
Crimestoppers’ campaign comes after another campaign by the charity earlier this year on the impact of abuse, threats and violence on Scotland’s retail staff. The charity’s youth arm Fearless.org ran social media ads and outreach events to raise awareness of the impact of abuse and the new law. Since the Bill was introduced over 24,000 young people in Scotland aged under 18 have visited a dedicated youth landing page to find out more.
Angela Parker, National Manager for Crimestoppers in Scotland, said: ‘In terms of public support and engagement, our February 21 shopworkers campaign was the most successful initiative our charity has ever run. The public were unanimous in their support for our retail workers and outraged to see the level of abuse, violence and threats targeted at them.
“Everyone has the right to feel safe. Violence and aggression towards shop staff can often leave people traumatised and in some cases vital, local shops left being at risk of closing.
“We are encouraging the public to understand the new law and are asking retail workers to speak up and report all incidents. You can report an emergency on 999, non-emergencies to Police Scotland on 101 or, to stay 100 per cent anonymous, contact Crimestoppers.
“Crimestoppers is independent of the police, and we have always kept our promise of total anonymity to everyone who has contacted us since we began in the late 1980s. You can tell us what you know by using our simple and secure online form at Crimestoppers-uk.org or by calling our UK Contact Centre on freephone 0800 555 111 which is open 24/7, 365 days a year. Your information could help protect those you love and your community from harm.”
At Holyrood, the SNP’s Community Safety Minister Ash Denham said: “Retail workers play a vital role serving our communities, which has been clearly demonstrated during the pandemic, and they should not have to tolerate any form of abuse, threats or violence as part of their job. “This important campaign highlights new legislation coming into force later this month which will help protect retail workers and encourage reporting of incidents.
“Tougher penalties for the perpetrators of crimes against retail staff under the new legislation will ensure everyone understands the seriousness of these incidents. The new laws will also improve how data on incidents is collected to further develop an understanding of the scale of the problem.”
Picture by Mark Rowe; Wellington statue, downtown Glasgow.
