‘Tackling Retail Crime Together’: the new government strategy to clamp down on crime

The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that in 2024, shoplifting offences recorded by police in England and Wales reached their highest level – with 516,971 shoplifting incidents.

Incidents of violence and abuse against shop staff also soared by 50% in 2023/24 to around 2,000 a day, according to a BRC report.

The rising level of abuse and theft means retailers have spent millions on prevention equipment to combat crime. Retailers such as H&M, the Co-op, Currys, Go Outdoors, Poundland, and Asda are among those to have invested in measures such as bodycams, facial recognition tech, and crime reporting tools.

Retailers can only do so much to protect staff. The BRC report found that retailers’ satisfaction with the police was low – 61% said they found police response poor or very poor, and only 9% described it as good or excellent.

A new three-year strategy dubbed ‘Tackling Retail Crime Together’ was unveiled at Mitie’s intelligence security operations centre in Northampton on Monday, which is a partnership involving the police, government, the private sector, trade bodies, not-for-profit groups and academia.

Retail Week was there to hear about new government initiatives designed to reduce and prevent retail crime.

Plan for change

The minister of state for Crime, Policing and Fire Diana Johnson reassured the audience that the government is with retailers “every step of the way” to combat the problem.

Flagging the new Safer Streets summer scheme introduced this month, Johnson said: “Over 500 town centres this summer are seeing increased police patrols and local action.”

“This is a team effort, and I hope that retail partners across the country will report back on positive outcomes they’re seeing in the days and weeks ahead.”

Retailers including Marks & Spencer, Primark, Tesco and Greggs have already reacted to the scheme, pledging to share photos, CCTV and personal data with the police for the first national database of repeat shoplifting offenders.

Johnson acknowledged that prevention is key both to combat shop theft and to make high streets safe for shoppers and workers.

“That’s why we’re putting an extra £200m of investment into neighborhood policing this year, and £66m into policing hotspot patrols with more than £7m over the next three years specifically allocated to help police forces bolster their response to retail crime,” she explained.

“This year there will be an extra 3,000 neighborhood police officers out on the beat in England and Wales, the first step in achieving our goal to deliver 13,000 additional officers by 2029.

“From July this year, communities will have named, contactable officers, increased peak time patrols in town centres, with an anti-social behavior lead in every force.”

The seven stages were not spoken about in great detail at the event, but it was made clear that this is a long-term strategy to deal with the unacceptable levels of crime across UK shops.

Johnson did point out that the first stage, the retail crime fusion cell, is an “exciting development” with the potential to be an “essential source of insight” into fighting retail crime because it means data from the police and those in the retail sector will be in one place.

“By (collating) data held by the industry and the police, we’ll be able to generate new insights and understand what is happening on the ground, which will help police and retailers develop new, more effective interventions.”

The plan going forward is to publish a six-monthly assessment that outlines current, emerging and predicted trends and outcomes from previous activities. 

“As the chair of the retail crime forum, I will be receiving regular updates across the board on every aspect of the strategy as it is implemented,” Johnson added.

“In for the long haul”

Action has been taken by the previous conservative government – although with varying results.

Project Pegasus was introduced at the end of 2023, which is similar to what was outlined during the Mitie event, as the project allowed retailers to run CCTV images of shoplifting offences to the Police National Database.

However, it was funded by a group of retailers such as Next, John Lewis, and Sainsbury’s, equating to £600,000.

Johnson also reminded those at the event of comments made by her predecessor and conservative MP Chris Philp in October 2023.

“When asked about the rising level of shop theft and lack of police officer response, he went on to suggest the answers might be for members of the public to perform their own citizen’s arrest instead,” she said.

“I’m not going to make that mistake.”

Retailers have heard all the promises and pledges by various MPs over the years but crime continues to spiral out of control – with shop floor workers at the most risk of abuse.

While it’s difficult to know if this three-year plan will prove fruitful, Johnson was keen to highlight what the Labour government has done over the last year, such as introducing a specific offence for assaulting a retail worker.

She said that “sends a clear message that abuse against staff won’t be tolerated.”

“We’re also repealing the misguided law that made shop theft under £200 a summary-only offence, and which in practice meant that the police were not expected to investigate incidents where goods below that value. 

“That change means that crimes can now be taken more seriously, both by the police and by the courts, because no matter the value, theft is theft.”

She believes the measures of extra neighbourhood police and the new seven-point plan will not only reduce retail crime, but prevent many incidents. 

She concluded: “We are in this for the long haul, and we know real and lasting change will take time to deliver, but that does not mean that we’re sitting back and waiting for improvements.”

The BRC assistant director of business regulation Graham Wynn commented on the news, saying the BRC “welcomes new initiatives to try and protect staff, reduce theft, and bring retail crime to heel.”