Shoplifting in London surges by 50%, raising concerns among retailers amid increasing incidents across England and Wales.
Shoplifting is also up across England and Wales. Police forces recorded 493,000 offenses, a 23% rise from 402,000 incidents. These numbers cover the year up to September. The British Retail Consortium is alarmed by the trend.
Retailers say shoplifting is out of control now, reporting over 2,000 incidents daily. Staff face abuse more often during thefts. People threaten them with weapons, and some staff even suffer racial or sexual abuse.
London police aren’t solving many shoplifting cases. Only 5% result in charges or summons. They couldn’t find a suspect in 75% of cases. Evidence problems closed another 15% of cases; two percent are still open cases.
Big stores are losing money due to theft. The government plans to fight shoplifting. They want to make assaulting shop workers a crime. This follows a campaign by businesses, and a lawmaker also sought this change.
Retailers are hopeful about new laws, believing these measures should help police with cases. The police minister thinks the numbers are too high and says these crimes hurt towns. She wants police to take them seriously.
The government aims to fix this problem. They plan to hire more police officers. Officers will get new powers to fight crime. Across England and Wales, theft is on the rise. Police recorded 1.8 million theft offenses.
Theft from people rose by 22%, including 146,000 incidents of pickpocketing. London alone saw 95,982 of such crimes.