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Daily Mail
14 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Shoplifters think they can rob shops with impunity, police chief warns
Some shoplifters 'feel they can rob shops with impunity', a policing chief has warned. Katy Bourne, the national lead for shoplifting at the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, said more robust police interventions and 'meaningful criminal justice measures' are needed to prevent reoffending. Shoplifting hit a record high in 2024, with the number of offences surpassing 500,000 for the first time, up 20 per cent from 2023. 'What on earth has happened to our high streets and our city centres?' Ms Bourne, the police and crime commissioner for Sussex, asked. 'Why do some people feel they can rob shops with impunity and abuse and assault staff without any fear of retribution?' She argued that there must be rehabilitation for some offenders as well as 'significant alternatives to our overcrowded prisons. Ms Bourne also announced Sussex will see 'the first electronic tagging scheme for persistent shoplifters'. The force will work with the courts on how to issue the tags and with industries to see how they can be monitored. Writing in The Telegraph on Saturday, the policing chief also criticised the 'purist application of data protection law' advising shopkeepers not to share images of suspected offenders. She said she is pleased that forces including Sussex Police will roll out live facial recognition cameras in specially-adapted police vans. It was reported that officers spoke to a shopkeeper in Wrexham after he posted a sign referring to 'scumbag shoplifters'. North Wales Police said it did not appear he had committed any offence. Ms Bourne said it appeared to be an example of 'warranted officers of the law policing the potential for hurt feelings'. She asked: 'How have we got to the point where police forces are more worried about upsetting career criminals than catching them?' Jon Cummins, Assistant Chief Constable from Avon and Somerset Police, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that wider societal issues including poverty, the cost-of-living crisis and addiction are contributing to the shoplifting spike. He said on Saturday: 'If they see somebody shoplifting, my advice to them is they must call us... not to intervene. 'We clearly want to be attending and will be attending reports'. Ms Bourne also cautioned against members of the public attempting to apprehend shoplifters. They may be armed and people 'run the risk' of committing assault, unlawful restraint or wrongful arrest. Earlier this week, supermarket chain Iceland said it would offer customers a £1 reward if they spot shoplifters in the act. The retailer's boss, Richard Walker, said any shoppers who point out offenders to members of staff will receive a payment to their membership card. It comes as the Government agreed that shoplifting should be called 'shop theft' to avoid downplaying its seriousness. In a letter to ministers, peers warned the 'outdated' word was 'trivialising the severity of the offence' and called for it to be phased out in legislation and guidance. The Government responded to commit to using 'shop theft' where appropriate, the Daily Telegraph reported. And the national police unit for organisations acquisitive crime, Opal, also said it would encourage the use of the term in its general communications. The letter from peers sent in November said: 'The use of the outdated term 'shoplifting' serves to trivialise the serious, organised nature of an increasing element of shop theft which is having a devastating effect on the retail sector. We recommend its use should be phased out.' In response, policing minister Dame Diana Johnson said: 'The Government will use the expression 'shop theft" where appropriate.' Shoplifting rates have almost doubled in two decades, with three thefts a minute recorded across England and Wales in the year to March. There were 530,643 reported to the police in this time, up 20 per cent on the previous year's 444,022. The problem is becoming increasingly rife in chemists, with an estimated increase of 88 per cent in the theft of drugs and medical supplies in the past 12 months. Sir Keir Starmer has made tackling shoplifting one of his top priorities since taking office, and pledged to spend an extra £200m on neighbourhood policing, as well as making assaulting a shop worker a more serious offence. The Prime Minister came under criticism this week, however, for failing to refer to shoplifters as 'scumbags.'
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Daily Mail
What's the point in shoplifters getting arrested when courts set them free, says police chief - as commissioner hits out at legal system 'madness'
Arresting shoplifters is pointless when the courts keep on setting them free a police chief has declared, with the commissioner describing the legal system's current approach as 'madness'. Katy Bourne, the national lead for shoplifting at the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, has hit out at the lack of an 'effective deterrent' for shoplifters carrying out more crimes. Insisting that it is 'madness' that the thieves blighting Britain's retailers are often not being put behind bars, Ms Bourne told the Telegraph: 'People have got to know that they're going to get caught, and that there's a meaningful deterrent when they do. 'There is no point arresting shoplifters if there is no effective deterrent.' The Police and Crime Commissioner for Sussex said that as a result of prisons being at capacity, many offenders are avoiding facing time in jail. Shoplifting rates have almost doubled in two decades, with three thefts a minute recorded across England and Wales in the year to March. There were 530,643 reported to the police in this time, up 20 per cent on the previous year's 444,022. The problem is becoming increasingly rife in chemists, with an estimated increase of 88 per cent in the theft of drugs and medical supplies in the past 12 months. Shoplifting rates have almost doubled in two decades, with three thefts a minute recorded across England and Wales in the year to March. There were 530,643 reported to the police in this time, up 20 per cent on the previous year's 444,022 Now, Ms Bourne has hit out at successive governments for handling the thieves with 'kid gloves'. She added: 'Successive parliaments have contributed to an indigestible legislative layer cake of rights and data protection laws and police guidance that treats the greedy, the ruthless and feckless with kid gloves.' Last September, she criticised the Tories for failing to tackle organised crime gangs seriously and advocated for prolific shoplifters to be given electronic location tags in a bid to clamp down on retail theft. The police chief added that she had become frustrated by a persistent lack of action by the government, suggesting that offenders must commit the crime several times before they are eventually imprisoned. As a result of the growing issue, alongside a lack of prison space, Ms Bourne has now said that Sussex will be set to introduce the nation's first electronic tagging scheme in a bid to tack The innovative move will mean that those caught shoplifting on a regular basis could face GPS tagging and rehabilitation orders ensuring they are banned from shops and even given certain curfews. She acknowledged that while rehabilitation for some offenders is key, consequences must be enforced, alongside suitable alternatives as a result of overcrowded prisons. In light of the stark rates of shoplifting across the nation, the Government has now agreed that the crime should be called 'shop theft' in order to avoid downplaying its seriousness. In a letter to ministers, peers warned the 'outdated' word was 'trivialising the severity of the offence' and called for it to be phased out in legislation and guidance. The Government responded to commit to using 'shop theft' where appropriate, the Daily Telegraph reported. The letter from peers sent in November said: 'The use of the outdated term 'shoplifting' serves to trivialise the serious, organised nature of an increasing element of shop theft which is having a devastating effect on the retail sector. We recommend its use should be phased out.' In response, policing minister Dame Diana Johnson said: 'The Government will use the expression 'shop theft" where appropriate. Sir Keir Starmer has made tackling shoplifting one of his top priorities since taking office, and pledged to spend an extra £200m on neighbourhood policing, as well as making assaulting a shop worker a more serious offence. However, the Prime Minister came under criticism this week for failing to refer to shoplifters as 'scumbags.' It came after Rob Davies, 61, a shopkeeper in Wrexham, North Wales, was left stunned after police told him to change his sign in which he called shoplifters 'scumbags' because it may be offensive. A warning from the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) said that shaming shoplifting suspects could 'breach data protection' laws. The Prime Minister came under criticism this week for failing to refer to shoplifters as 'scumbags.' It came after Rob Davies, 61, a shopkeeper in Wrexham, North Wales, was left stunned after police told him to change his sign in which he called shoplifters 'scumbags' On an advice page for tackling shoplifters, the UK data watchdog warned that putting up images of thieves in a local area could 'not be appropriate' behaviour. As a result, they advised retailers to 'only share personal information that's proportionate and necessary to achieve your purpose'. However shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick called the advice 'madness' and suggested that shoplifters should be 'named and shamed'. Meanwhile, Labour MP Alex Davies-Jones told Radio 4's Today Programme earlier this week that shoplifting had 'got out of hand'. When asked if it was right for shops to post photos of suspects, she responded: 'I think it is on all of us to be aware of what is going on in our local communities.' Taking to X, Shadow home office minister Katie Lam recounted a story about a constituent who had been ordered by police to remove pictures of suspected shoplifters. 'He gives police CCTV, card details, licence plates. No action apart from a visit to say he must take down pics of thieves "because of GDPR",' she wrote. 'Our system should crush the lawless and protect the law-abiding. It does the opposite.' Earlier this week, Matthew Barber, the Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner for Thames Valley, said tackling thieves was not just a job for police and criticised onlookers for standing back and filming instances of crime. Instead, he encouraged the public to stand up to thieves themselves and not rely on bobbies on the beat for help. Mr Barber criticised the public for being 'part of the problem' and encouraged shop owners to to deal with thieves themselves. But ex-New Scotland Yard detective Peter Bleksley has criticised Mr Barber's comments, calling them 'utter idiocy' and warning they could lead to more crime. Speaking to the Daily Mail, Mr Bleksley said: 'The PCC has clearly not thought - it's complete and utter idiocy. Sanjeev Panesar, who owns a pharmacy in Birmingham, described the 'noticeable rise' in hostility towards staff as both 'disheartening' but also capable of having a 'lasting effect on job satisfaction, morale, and feelings of safety at work.' Meanwhile, Ashley Cowen, owner of three pharmacies across Leeds and York that have been subjected to incidents, described the lack of police action on the issue as 'shocking'. He also described witnessing brazen thieves going as far as to burn, cut and even sow through 'steel grilles' in a bid to access drug stock. A spokesman for the Information Commissioner's Office said: 'We don't set strict requirements on how organisations should respond to shoplifting, as data protection law recognises that circumstances can vary. Instead, we provide guidance to help organisations use people's information in a way that is lawful, fair and proportionate. 'Data protection law enables retailers to share images to prevent or detect crime, as long as it's necessary and proportionate in the circumstances. For example, this could include sharing images with the police, shopping centre security teams, or other relevant authorities. 'Retailers will need to consider the relevant privacy implications, such as having a legal reason and appropriate security measures, when considering publishing any images of suspected shoplifters.' Shoplifting figures released this week by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) showed just 2.5 per cent of offences were recorded by the police each year. It said 50,000 shoplifting incidents go unreported every day as firms give up on the police. BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said: 'Many retailers do not see the point of reporting incidents to the police.'
Telegraph
a day ago
- Telegraph
No point arresting shoplifters when courts set them free, says policing chief
There is no point in arresting shoplifters if courts keep setting them free and they are not prevented from carrying out further crimes, a policing chief has said. Katy Bourne, the national lead for shoplifting at the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, said it was 'madness' how many times thieves had to be arrested before ending up behind bars. The Police and Crime Commissioner for Sussex said prisons were full and offenders were not being sent to jail, so the criminal justice system had to find alternate methods to stop repeat offenders. In an interview with The Telegraph, Ms Bourne said: 'If prison is not an option – and I think it should be, but at the moment it clearly isn't as there are no places – then we've got to find credible alternatives. 'People have got to know that they're going to get caught, and that there's a meaningful deterrent when they do. There is no point arresting shoplifters if there is no effective deterrent.' Ms Bourne's intervention comes after police in North Wales sparked a huge public backlash when a shop owner was spoken to for putting up a sign calling shoplifters 'scumbags'. She said she feared that the country had reached a point 'where police forces are more worried about upsetting career criminals rather than catching them'. She said: 'Successive parliaments have contributed to an indigestible legislative layer cake of rights and data protection laws and police guidance that treats the greedy, the ruthless and feckless with kid gloves.' Ms Bourne said offenders needed a 'metaphorical punch on the nose' with 'robust police intervention followed swiftly by meaningful criminal justice measures that deter and prevent them from re-offending'. Sir Keir Starmer's Government has made tackling the shoplifting epidemic one of its key priorities, but a record high of nearly three thefts were carried out every minute in the year to this March. The reality of the situation is feared to be much worse, with many shopkeepers so demoralised by repeated thefts that they no longer report every incident to police. There is growing pressure on the Government and police to get a grip on the problem and ensure the courts hand out robust sentences and deterrents to the most prolific offenders. Ms Bourne has spearheaded a pioneering scheme in which shoplifters will be subject to GPS tagging and rehabilitation orders issued by courts. They could then be banned from shops from which they have stolen or given curfews to stop their thieving. She continued: 'Effectively at the moment, if you're shoplifting you're not going to go to prison unless you do it multiple, multiple times. 'If there's no space for prolific shoplifters in prison there should be restricted space for them on our high streets. Tagging will ensure police know where they are.' In May, it emerged that around 43,000 criminals were set to avoid prison each year under Government plans to combat jail overcrowding. The criminals, including burglars, shoplifters and knife offenders, will instead face community sentences under the plans to scrap most jail terms of under 12 months. Ms Bourne said she had repeatedly demanded that the Government rolled out a national electronic tagging scheme for offenders, but had been left frustrated and 'fed up' with the lack of action. She said: 'Sussex will introduce the first electronic tagging scheme for persistent shoplifters. I am fed up waiting for the Government to act. We will be working with the courts to see how tags might be issued and with police and industry to see how the tags could be monitored. I don't know if this will work but we have to try. 'Ultimately, it sends a clear signal to shoplifters that we won't look the other way in Sussex. I sound frustrated and angry because we have talked for far too long about getting to grips with retail crime, but indecision and a lack of criminal justice system cohesion are slowing our response.' Ms Bourne acknowledged there were different types of shoplifters including opportunists, drug and alcohol addicts and organised crime gangs. 'Whilst there needs to be understanding, treatment and rehabilitation for some offenders, there must be consequences for others as well as significant alternatives to our overcrowded prisons,' she said.
