SHOPLIFTING OFFENCES RISE TO HIGHEST LEVEL IN UK WITH ALMOST 1,200 OFFENCES A DAY

CCTV footage shows group of girls stealing croissants in East Sussex on 18 July, 2022

Fri 26 April 2024:

There is currently an alarming rise in criminal activity in the United Kingdom, including record-breaking rates of shoplifting and property and a commercial robberies.

The UK saw a record high of nearly 1,200 shoplifting incidents each day, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). In the meanwhile, just 10%, or one in ten, of the cases are resolved.

Police reported 430,104 shoplifting offenses in total in 2023, which is 37% greater than the 315,040 offenses documented in the year before to December 2022.

These shoplifting incident numbers are the highest since records have been kept in March 2003. A record-breaking 50,000 shoplifting cases occurred in 2018.

Another Home Office data suggests that the percentage of shoplifting offences where the thief is charged is 10.5 per cent, 4.5 per cent less than the previous 15 per cent. In 2016 the percentage was as high as 27.7 per cent when these records began.

Robbery of personal and business assets

Theft of personal property increased by 9.9 percent, from 65,000 to 71,000, marking the highest figures since 2019. Robberies of business assets recorded by police surged by 38%, from 6,970 to 9,633, in 2023, marking the highest since 2004. Meanwhile, the proportion of robberies resulting in charges has decreased from 6.8 per cent to 3.5%.

Nick Stripe, from the ONS, told the Telegraph “In the past 12 months, police recorded crime shows notable increases in robbery, theft from the person, and shoplifting. The latter has risen by more than 100,000 offences, while the police have been dealing with the highest levels of theft from the person offences recorded in two decades.”

Theft from individuals has surged to its highest level since 2004, totaling 125,564 offenses in the year up to December 2023, marking an 18% increase. While less than one in every 170 personal thefts result in a charge.

UK’s efforts to combat shoplifting

In order to combat shoplifting, the UK government has launched further efforts. Repeat offenders being banned from shopping areas and subject to tagging, assaulting shop employees is now considered a distinct criminal offense carrying a maximum two-year jail sentence.

According to a British Retail Consortium (BRC) research, the amount of money lost to theft in the UK has nearly doubled to £1.8 billion, and the number of violent or abusive events against store staff has increased from 870 to 1,300 each day.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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