A ‘national day of action’ sends a clear message to customers that they must treat shop workers properly, said Home Office minister Kit Malthouse on the launch of that day, in Birmingham, last week. The minister urged shoppers to #ShopKind when they visit high streets.
The Home Office added that retailers, policing and private security companies are coming together to host ‘days of action’, in association with #ShopKind, urging the public to be mindful of shop workers’ essential role in serving the public and asking that workers should be treated with respect, kindness and gratitude.
The launch was at the Bullring (pictured; courtesy of West Midlands Police), organised by the Police National Business Crime Centre (NBCC) and National Association of Business Crime Partnerships (NABCP). Other launches in other regional centres are promised in 2022.
Minister for Crime, Policing and Probation Kit Malthouse said: “What would possess anyone to threaten or assault shop workers is beyond me. It’s truly awful and we should not stand for it. We have more police on our streets, and they should work with businesses to keep our communities safe and our high streets thriving.”
Supt Patrick Holdaway who heads the NBCC said: “Violence and abuse against shop workers is never acceptable. The National Business Crime Centre has been working with key stakeholders in police, retail, business crime reduction partnerships and security providers to deliver a series of ‘days of action’ to support the National #ShopKind campaign to protect shop workers, and deter, disrupt and detain persistent and prolific offenders.”
Darren Conway is chairman of the National Days of Action Steering Group. He said: “There is a range of effective counter-measures available to retail, leisure and other locations to deter threats to staff, whether from criminal gangs or in random, isolated incidents. Only by working collaboratively and as a community will we be able to fully support our teams on the front line. We are urging all businesses and the public to get behind the days of action and #ShopKind.”
Background
This ‘day of action’ with its onus on asking shoppers to be nice when shopping did not address crime response issues raised in the Home Affairs Select Committee of MPs report on violence and abuse towards retail workers, published in June. Its hearings of retail security managers was featured in the June 2021 print edition of Professional Security magazine.
The MPs heard and then reported on a ‘vicious cycle of under-reporting’ due to police responding to retailers either late or not at all, even when shops have detained criminals. Among its recommendations, the all-party committee of MPs described it as ‘deeply disappointing that the main thrust of the Government’s response to shop workers, who have lost confidence in the police response, is to demand increased reporting to the police without also requiring the police to improve its response’. The committee report noted also organised crime and addictions behind theft, and violence if staff try to stop crimes.
Meanwhile the retail workers’ union Usdaw among others has been urging an English equivalent of the Scottish Parliament’s Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-restricted Goods and Services) (Scotland) Act 2021. Usdaw notes that at the end of last year, the House of Lords voted for a protection of workers amendment to put into statute a sentencing aggravating factor that recognises the public-facing role of a victim.
Paddy Lillis – Usdaw General Secretary says: “Violence, threats and abuse have long been a major issue for shop workers, which is why Usdaw launched the Freedom from Fear Campaign in 2003. Shockingly, incidents during the pandemic became much worse, with our survey finding they had doubled at the beginning of the first lockdown. So Government action was long overdue.
“After extensive campaigning by our reps and members, including achieving over 100,000 petition signatures, we secured a breakthrough in Holyrood and Westminster. Scottish Labour’s Daniel Johnson MSP successfully steered through his private members bill and earned unanimous support. Labour’s front bench, with cross-party support, pushed the Government, after years of resistance, to act to toughen sentencing for those who assault workers.
“Our campaign also has an industrial focus, with an army of Usdaw health and safety reps risk assessing workplaces and negotiating improvements with local management. At national level the union worked with retail employers to improve company policies and jointly campaign for Government action. A coalition across the retail sector was built, with the support of the Co-op, British Retail Consortium, Association of Convenience Stores and over 100 major retailers. Combined we proved to be an influential force that persuaded Ministers to support Usdaw’s campaign.
“The campaign priorities for this year are to continue monitoring the levels of abuse our members suffer, examining the effectiveness of the new legislation and encouraging our members to report the incidents they experience. It is very worrying that nearly half of shop workers are not confident that reporting abuse, threats and violence will make a difference, with 7pc of those who had been assaulted not reporting the incident. So our message to members is clear, if they report it we can help sort it.”
