Police need pushing to investigate every report of violence and abuse against retail workers, for the crime to be treated with the seriousness it deserves. So say more than 100 retail high street chiefs and directors in an open letter to police and crime commissioners (PCCs) through the trade association the British Retail Consortium (BRC).
Retailers spent £715m on crime prevention in 2020/21 – from hiring in-store security teams, training staff on de-escalation, and investing in CCTV and body worn cameras for staff – but police support locally is vital to protecting staff. The letter complained that ‘violence and abuse against retail workers has reached a shocking high’.
The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 did allow for stronger sentences for those found guilty of violence and abuse against retail workers. This amendment sends a very strong signal that assaults of this kind are totally unacceptable, the letter said – ‘but will only serve as a deterrent if the powers it provides are properly and widely used’.
The letter was signed by heads of such staples of the high street as Primark, Marks and Spencer, John Lewis, Spar UK, Specsavers, Starbucks and Wickes. It directly asked PCCs to make retail crime a priority in their plans; it also addressed police (who ought to make reporting crime simpler, ‘to help give the police an accurate picture of the problem’) and courts – the letter asked PCCs to new sentencing guidelines are used in a local area and what effect (if any) they have on violence and abuse against retail workers.
The letter said: “We are increasingly concerned about reports of rising levels of violence, abuse, and anti-social behaviour which is partly linked to tackling shoplifting.” The retailers added the point that ultimately, theft pushes up the cost of operating and results in higher prices; and comes with emotional costs to the victims and witnesses of crime, not just the financial cost of theft.
Reply
Katy Bourne (the Conservative Sussex PCC) is the national Association of Police & Crime Commissioners (APCC) lead for Business and Retail Crime. She replied: “I would like to reassure all retail workers that their concerns are taken very seriously. Across England and Wales, retail crime has been identified by the overwhelming majority of PCCs as a key priority locally, with an action plan in place to tackle the rise in reported crimes.
“Shoplifting and shrinkage is not the acceptable price of working in retail and should not have to be tolerated. Similarly, being subject to foul language, threats or abuse should not be normalised because we know the devastating impact this can have on staff, their livelihoods and the supply chain.
“One of the key problems when it comes to retail crime is that only a small percentage of these crimes are currently being reported to the police. Efforts must be made to understand the full extent of the problem so that we can effectively support businesses and ensure that police forces are responding and prioritising accordingly.
“To counter this issue in Sussex, we have introduced a ‘One Touch Reporting’ system, working with the Co-op and National Business Crime Solution. This pilot scheme has significantly reduced the reporting time for crimes in retail and improved the confidence of participating stores and their staff. Reporting levels in those participating stores have increased by as much as 300 per cent.
“I have also established the Safer Sussex Business Partnership made up of businesses from the local area who, working with our specialist Business Crime Team of nine investigators, help to identify challenges and crime patterns, develop ways to share intelligence and combat prolific offending. In addition, we have developed three programmes to work with first-time and serial offenders in order to reduce reoffending and support victims of business crime.”
Coincidentally Katy Bourne was among those quoted in an ITV Tonight programme last night on crime against retail, Shops and Robbers.
Separately, at the retail workers’ trade union Usdaw, Paddy Lillis, General Secretary last month urged that much more needs to be done, given ‘shop workers’ almost complete lack of confidence in the ability of the system to give them the protection they need’.
