Police across the country don’t see fighting Britain’s shoplifting epidemic as a top priority, the officer leading a national effort to stop the robberies admitted. But the true scale of the problem is even worse than official figures suggest – even though they show more than 1,400 shoplifting offences take place every day.
The shocking comments were made by superintendent Lisa Maslen, who leads the National Business Crime Centre which works with forces and employers to cut business crime across the UK. Asked if shoplifting was “a top five issue” for police commanders, she said: “I don’t think top five. I’d say top ten.”
Retailers have warned that the cost of shoplifting pushes up prices, adding 10p on average to every transaction, with 77% of shop staff say they have been assaulted or abused.
But Supt Maslen told a committee of MPs: “I think we moved away from community policing at a time when everything was a focus, not that long ago we were talking solely about fraud, we were talking about robbery, burglary, and I think shoplifting fell off the policing agenda is my personal view.”
She added: “Data up to the end of March said that retail crime had gone up to 530,000 offences. Now, we know that that’s nowhere near what’s actually happening, that’s actually just what’s being reported.”
Police lacked the resources to tackle the problem, Supt Maslen said. “They don’t have enough resources. Recruitment of neighbourhood police teams is behind schedule.”
But police officers were “frustrated” because even when they caught shoplifters they often found no action was taken, she said.
“When they see that they’re locking the same people up week after week and they’re not getting into the courts or they’re not getting any kind of sentence or diversion, then that’s frustrating for them as well.
“So I don’t think it all comes from laziness or not wanting to do it. I think some of it comes from frustration also.”
James Lowman, Chief Executive of the Association of Convenience Stores. which represents smaller shops, told the hearing that shoplifters appeared to have no fears about the consequences of their actions. He said: “What we have seen really change in recent years is the brazenness, the lack of any regard for consequences that we feel many thieves have.
“So you have instances of shelves just being cleared, people just walking in and walking out, no attempt to hide what they’re doing. That is relatively new behaviour, certainly to the extent that we’re seeing it now.”
The comments were made at a hearing of the Commons Business and Trade Committee, chaired by former Treasury minister Liam Byrne, which is holding an inquiry into how smaller businesses can be helped to succeed. He told Supt Maslen: “That is quite a bleak picture but thank you for being very candid with us today.”
