Shop Staff Face Christmas Crime Wave Amid Rising Shoplifting Cases
Shoplifting incidents are soaring, leaving staff feeling vulnerable and unprotected as investigations remain unsolved
Shoplifting, Crime Wave, Lisa Smart, UK, Police
London: Shop staff are really feeling the heat this Christmas. An MP has raised alarms about a “Christmas crime wave” as new stats show over 650 shoplifting cases go unsolved every day.
In the year leading up to March 2024, a whopping 245,500 investigations were closed without finding a suspect. That’s about 672 cases a day! This is a big jump—38% more than five years ago.
More than half of these cases, around 56.4%, were closed simply because no one was identified as a suspect. Only about one in six cases actually led to charges. It’s pretty alarming.
Lisa Smart, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesperson, said shop staff are dealing with this crime wave while feeling like shoplifters are getting away with it. She pointed fingers at the previous Conservative government for not doing enough.
Smart emphasized that the new government needs to step up and support shop workers. They need to ensure police have the time and resources to keep neighborhoods safe.
Recent data shows shoplifting is at a 20-year high. In the year up to June 2024, there were 469,788 shoplifting offences reported, a 29% increase from the previous year. That’s the highest number since records began in 2003.
In November, the House of Lords Committee expressed concerns that shop theft is underreported and not being handled properly, which could hurt public trust in the police.
To tackle this, a police squad focused on shoplifting has arrested 93 members of organized crime gangs in just seven months. That’s a step in the right direction.
Dame Diana Johnson, the policing minister, noted that during the last year of the Tory government, shoplifting surged by 30%. She pointed out that public visibility of police officers has dropped significantly since 2010.
She stressed that the new Labour government is committed to bringing back neighborhood policing and giving police new powers to fight against shoplifting and other crimes in our communities.