'Abandoned' shopkeepers lament retail crime
Monday, 18 Sep 2006 08:26
UK retailers are hit by £780 million of crime every year
British shopkeepers believe that the government does not care about retail crime and is failing to properly enforce anti-theft laws, a survey published today claims.
According to the British Retail Consortium, (BRC) only one out of every ten retailers believes that the government's attitude to retail crime is not low, while 86 per cent think the government should do more to tackle the issue.
Many retailers discover store thefts taking place but are unable to stop the accused thief escaping because police take too long arriving at the scene of the crime. Seventy-seven per cent of retailers questioned in the BRC survey said they were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with police response times.
"Attempting to hand shoplifters over to the police has become time-wasting and futile," Kevin Hawkins, director general of the BRC, commented.
"Too often they are not interested and even when there is a successful prosecution the penalties are derisory. A lot of store managers are now resigned to the fact that their own efforts at beating the crooks will not be supported."
The BRC cites research from the sentencing advisory panel (SAP), which found that 95 per cent of shop theft convictions had at least one previous conviction – and that the average number of previous convictions was 19.
"Failure to tackle shoplifting significantly undermines efforts to reduce other forms of crime. It's an entry level offence - the worst offenders quickly graduate to other forms of crime," Mr Hawkins said.
"Ministers and police chiefs need to recognise retail crime has consequences. I urge them to work with retailers not abandon them."
The government has rejected claims that it is disregarding retail crime, however. A Home Office spokesperson said that the "government takes crime against business very seriously".
"We recognise the cost and disruption that crime causes to business - as well as the knock-on effects for communities and consumers," the spokesperson said.
"Over the last two years the government has provided nearly £1 million to the Action Against Business Crime Group to set up 100 business crime reduction partnerships.
The spokesperson referred to the Crime and Disorder Partnerships (CDRP) initiatives between police and local authorities, which encourages "business to work closely in partnership with the police and local authorities".
The Home Office was also aware that many crimes go completely unreported to the police, the spokesperson said.
"The government is aware that under-reporting occurs for a number of reasons and continues to work closely with business and trade associations to address this issue," the Home Office added.
Crime costs retailers £780 million per year, according to estimates from the government's commercial victimisation survey.