Policing minister wants a ‘zero tolerance approach’ for shoplifters as thousands walk free.
Undercover guards in Co-op stores are detaining shoplifters but thousands end up walking free.
The supermarket chain is urging for stronger action to stop criminals believing that shoplifting is a crime that carries no consequences as “police are not interested,” some Majestic workers have said.
There have been some early signs of improvement as the government stepped in, as last year there was more than 335,000 cases of shoplifting, anti-social behaviour and violence across Co-op stores.
The Co-op found earlier this year that the police failed to attend three out of five shoplifting cases at their supermarkets once they had been detained.
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Since the government introduced the Retail Crime Action Plan new data has revealed that non-attendance rated has improved slightly, but the police are failing to attend three out of five cases, the Co-op told PA news agency.
Crime and policing minister Chris Philp said he wanted a new “zero-tolerance approach” to tackling shoplifting.
Matt Hood, Co-op’s managing director of food retail, said shoplifting is “critical and is not going away.”
He added, repeat prolific offenders along with organised criminal gangs are behind the spike in cases.
The Co-op welcomes the government’s plans, but Hood wants to “see it in action in our stores, so that the desperate calls from frontline colleagues to the police are responded to, and criminals do start to realise there are real consequences to their actions of shoplifting in our shops.”
Previously, Liberal Democrat London Assembly Member and Police & Crime Spokesperson Caroline Pidgeon said, “Shoplifting is at epidemic levels in London now, with many business owners feeling like it has all but been decriminalised and many retail staff increasingly being put in harm’s way, especially in smaller independent stores which cannot afford security.
“There is no such thing as victimless crime, and while shoplifting may officially be considered a ‘low-level offence’ it does cause a huge amount of damage to our local businesses, especially when profit margins are tight and can leave victims of altercations scarred and anxious for years to come.
“We need to see a proper return to community policing and the Met responding to more shoplifting cases.
“We also need to see the UK Government step up efforts to tackle the organised criminal gangs that operate shoplifting rings with the funding they announced earlier this year amounting to a pitiful 8p per shoplifting offence.”
