Convenience stores in the UK recorded 5.6 million incidents of shop theft over the last year, smashing the previous record of 1.1m incidents recorded in the previous twelve months.
The Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) 2024 Crime Report outlines the scale of the retail crime crisis blighting communities across the UK, with retailers recording over 600 incidents of theft an hour during the last year.
The report also highlights a huge increase in violent incidents committed against retailers and their staff. Over the last year, there have been around 76,000 incidents of violence in shops compared to 41,000 in the previous report.
Retailers are doing what they can to fight back by investing in crime prevention and detection measures, with £339m spent over the last year in areas like CCTV, security staff, intruder alarms and internal communication systems. However, the ACS stated the latest figures send a clear message to the Government, local forces and police leaders that more action is needed.
Taken together, the cost of crime and the cost of investing in fighting crime results in a 10p ‘crime tax’ on every transaction that takes place in every store across the UK, up from 6p in the 2023 Crime Report.
ACS Chief Executive James Lowman said: “Retailers are facing an onslaught of crime committed against their businesses on a daily basis, with some losing tens of thousands of pounds per year to theft alone. This extended crime wave cannot be allowed to continue. Thieves are known to the community and to the police but they simply do not care, and continue on regardless, filling baskets and trolleys and walking out without fear of reproach.
“There have been positive steps forward made in recent months with the publication of the Retail Crime Action Plan and the launching of Operation Pegasus to try and better identify prolific offenders and bring them to justice, but the figures in our report demonstrate that more needs to be done urgently. Nobody should have to come to work and face what retailers and their colleagues have faced over the last year.”
ACS is calling on central Government to take the following action to support retailers in tackling the UK’s retail crime crisis:
- Deliver justice for shopworkers and effective sanctions for offenders
- Focus additional police resources on neighbourhood policing to keep communities safe
- Support further investment in technology to deter and detect criminals
