Businesses and retail workers have warned shoplifting is “definitely getting worse” and is now “a daily occurrence” as figures showed a record 670 shoplifting offences a day went unsolved in the past year.
Data collected by the House of Commons Library showed that in the year to March 2024, 245,500 shoplifting offence cases were closed without a suspect being identified.
This was 38 per cent more than the 178,432 shoplifting offences that went unsolved in the same period five years ago.
The figures mean that half (56.4 per cent) of shoplifting offences were closed due to no suspect having been identified.
Around one in six (17.2 per cent) of cases led to a suspect being charged or summonsed, down from one in five (21.2 per cent) five years ago.
It comes as the Liberal Democrats warned that shop staff were facing a “Christmas crime wave”.
Echoing the warmings, high street workers told The i Paper they were facing more “organised” shoplifting where thieves had worked out “when there’s going to be maybe less staff” and were targeting shops.
Pharmacist Thorrun Govind, who works in several chemists across Manchester, said shoplifting was now “a daily occurrence”.
“When I came into pharmacy, I didn’t expect to be necessarily trying to manage shoplifters, but that’s part of it now. It’s another thing on our plates,” she explained.
“Community pharmacies are that the heart of the High Street and are very much having to deal with the pressures that are on the rest of the High Street – and that includes dealing with shoplifters on a very regular basis.”
Govind said there was “an element of it getting worse at Christmas” but described shoplifting as “an ongoing issue”.
“And if you do manage to do anything about it, it’s hard to get hold of anyone (the police).”
“There seems to be no comeback for shoplifters – that’s the state of affairs.
“I think about how it used to be: you’d get a quicker reaction. But even now, walking down the street, you don’t see bobbies on the beat like we used to,” she said.
Barbara Stern, who works for Ottoman Textiles, a fabric company based in Manchester, told The i Paper that shoplifting was “not just a minor concern anymore”.
“The rise in the incidence has made me more aware of the need to be vigilant, especially during busy times when it is easy for someone to slip under the radar,” she said.
The textile retailer said while she only experiences “one or two incidents a month” the textiles she sells “are high-value items”. “Even a single stolen piece may mean a lot to my bottom line,” she explained.
Stern blamed the rise in shoplifting partially on the rise in the cost of living.
“People are finding it difficult to make ends meet, and I do not support it, but desperation may be the reason why some steal,” she added.
Earlier this year, a report by the House of Lords Justice and Home Affairs Committee called for immediate action to address the issue.
It said there were more than 443,000 incidents of shop theft recorded by police in the year to March 2024 – the highest ever since records began 20 years ago.
Reflecting on the data, the Liberal Democrats said they are calling for the government to ensure a proper return to community policing where officers were given the resources to keeping their local neighbourhoods safe, including shop workers.
Liberal Democrat Home Affairs Spokesperson Lisa Smart MP said: “Shop staff are having to deal with a Christmas crime wave as shoplifters act with impunity with so many crimes being effectively legalised by the previous Conservative government’s shocking neglect.
“The new government needs to get a grip on this shoplifting epidemic and hard-working shop staff on the frontline need to be reassured that they will not continue to be abandoned.”
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