Met has worst rate for solving shoplifting cases

Sussex had a 10 per cent detection rate, West Midlands, Surrey, Bedfordshire, Avon and Somerset and Northumbria. This contrasted with Norfolk’s 35.2 per cent, followed by Cumbria 33.8 per cent, Suffolk 31.4 per cent, South Yorkshire 30.1 per cent and Humberside 28.1 per cent. ‘All about risk’ David McKelvey, a former Scotland Yard detective chief inspector, who runs a private “policing” service, said part of the fault lay with retailers who refused to prosecute and operated non-intervention policies when they were confronted with shoplifters. Rachel Carr, Sussex Police chief superintendent, said there had been a 65 per cent increase in shoplifting reports largely because of encouraging businesses to contact police and the solving rate was now up to 18.7 per cent. Chief Inspector Andrew Hill, Sussex Police’s lead for business crime, said it had doubled its charge rate from five per cent to 10.8 per cent after a “renewed focus” on shoplifting including uniformed and plain clothes patrols in theft hotspots.