‘We kept him for two hours. But the police never came’: the reality on the shoplifting frontline
1 year, 3 months ago

‘We kept him for two hours. But the police never came’: the reality on the shoplifting frontline

The Telegraph  

In the back office of his family-run grocers in Croydon, south London, Ben Selvaratnam is reviewing CCTV footage. “This is yesterday’s incident,” he says, looking at a video clip of two men loading a carrier bag with alcohol and laundry detergent. They’re taking their time – they don’t expect to be challenged.” The recent tide of retail crime started rising post-Covid, he says, beginning with an incident where a shoplifter violently attacked one of his employees in July 2021. “We held down because after being confronted, he hit one of the staff members… I think we kept him there for about two hours.” But the police never came. “We’re seeing all types of criminality,” he says, from “people who genuinely afford food… to professional who come in and steal to order.” Thieves target “alcohol, confectionery, razor blades, coffee, meat… Anything that has a resale value.”

Selvaratnam  office  try  steal  came  thieves  selvaratnam  shoplifting  increase  frontline  offences  kept  men  cent  reality  hours

History of this topic

Shoplifting in my store is so bad I've had to make 50 citizen's arrests myself - it's the only way I can get the police to turn up!
6 days, 1 hour ago

Shoplifting in my store is so bad I've had to make 50 citizen's arrests myself - it's the only way I can get the police to turn up!

Daily Mail  

A have-a-go-hero store owner in one of Britain's under-siege town centres plagued by shoplifters says he has to make citizen's arrests as the only way for police to show. Happy Piranha store owner Martin Gaunt has revealed how they have carried out 50 citizen's arrests in two years due to shoplifters He has installed 12 CCTV cameras at his three …

Shoplifting epidemic adds 10p ‘crime tax’ to every transaction as minister vows end to ‘shameful neglect’ of retail crime
1 month, 1 week ago

Shoplifting epidemic adds 10p ‘crime tax’ to every transaction as minister vows end to ‘shameful neglect’ of retail crime

The Independent  

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Get our free View from Westminster email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy A surge in shoplifting under the Conservatives has led to shoppers …

Half of Britons say stealing food if you are starving is fine as police reveal they dealt with 469,788 shoplifting offences last year
1 month, 2 weeks ago

Half of Britons say stealing food if you are starving is fine as police reveal they dealt with 469,788 shoplifting offences last year

Daily Mail  

Over half of Britons believe that stealing food if you are starving is fine after police revealed dealing with a record number of shoplifting offences over the past year. Police recorded 469,788 shoplifting incidents in the year to June, a staggering 29 per cent rise on the previous year and equating to over 1,200 offences per day. For instance, a …

The UK's shoplifting hotspots: Interactive map reveals areas with highest number of store thefts - as inquiry finds number of reported crimes are a just a 'drop in the ocean'
1 month, 2 weeks ago

The UK's shoplifting hotspots: Interactive map reveals areas with highest number of store thefts - as inquiry finds number of reported crimes are a just a 'drop in the ocean'

Daily Mail  

A new interactive map reveals the UK's shoplifting hotspots, with the scale of the crisis varying dramatically area by area. Police data shows the North East takes the top spot for shoplifting crimes, with a rate of 11.5 per 1,000 people - 35 per cent higher than the national average. Shoplifting in England and Wales surged by 26 per cent …

Stop trivialising ‘devastating’ high street thefts, police urged
1 month, 2 weeks ago

Stop trivialising ‘devastating’ high street thefts, police urged

The Telegraph  

According to official figures, there were 443,995 incidents of theft from shops recorded by police in the year to March 2024, up 30pc on a year earlier. The British Retail Consortium estimates that there are 17m incidents of shop theft every year, costing retailers almost £2bn every year. Lord Foster said there was more to do to educate the public …

Britain's shoplifting shame: Stores are suffering two thefts every minute as retail theft hits highest level since records began
1 month, 4 weeks ago

Britain's shoplifting shame: Stores are suffering two thefts every minute as retail theft hits highest level since records began

Daily Mail  

Britain's stores are suffering two thefts every minute as retail theft has hit its highest level since records began. Chief constables now face questions about policing priorities after official data revealed nearly 6,000 crimes went unsolved every day last year, with 40 per cent of all recorded crimes going unpunished. Almost 444,000 shoplifting offences were recorded by forces in England …

Shoplifting at an all-time high with 1,300 offences recorded every day, new figures show
1 month, 4 weeks ago

Shoplifting at an all-time high with 1,300 offences recorded every day, new figures show

The Independent  

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Please try again later {{ …

‘I’ve seen it all’, says manager of Co-op store blighted by shoplifting
2 months, 4 weeks ago

‘I’ve seen it all’, says manager of Co-op store blighted by shoplifting

The Independent  

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Co-op store manager David Brook …

Inside Britain’s ‘out of control’ shoplifting crisis as even pound shops are targeted
6 months, 4 weeks ago

Inside Britain’s ‘out of control’ shoplifting crisis as even pound shops are targeted

The Independent  

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. “Shoplifting is pretty horrific at the moment, it’s out …

Britain's police 'aren't interested' in tackling shoplifting anymore, Marks & Spencer's boss claims - as store theft offences surge to the highest level ever
7 months, 1 week ago

Britain's police 'aren't interested' in tackling shoplifting anymore, Marks & Spencer's boss claims - as store theft offences surge to the highest level ever

Daily Mail  

The boss of Marks & Spencer has claimed that Britain's police 'aren't interested' in tackling shoplifting anymore. Archie Norman, chairman for the major retailer, told LBC News that stores across the country get 'very little help' from officers, even though retail theft hit the highest level on record last year. M&S chairman Archie Norman told LBC News that stores across …

M&S boss says police no longer interested in tackling shoplifting
7 months, 1 week ago

M&S boss says police no longer interested in tackling shoplifting

The Independent  

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The chair of …

Keir Starmer pledges to toughen laws on shoplifting and scrap the £200 theft threshold
7 months, 3 weeks ago

Keir Starmer pledges to toughen laws on shoplifting and scrap the £200 theft threshold

Daily Mail  

Labour would scrap the £200 shoplifting threshold, Sir Keir Starmer confirmed as he backed the Mail campaign to crack down on assaults against staff. It emerged last week that shoplifting has risen to the highest level since records began in 2003, with 430,104 offences recorded by police last year. Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to reverse what he called a …

Met has worst rate for solving shoplifting cases
7 months, 3 weeks ago

Met has worst rate for solving shoplifting cases

The Telegraph  

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 …

How a shoplifting crime wave is forcing the retreat of self-checkout
9 months ago

How a shoplifting crime wave is forcing the retreat of self-checkout

The Telegraph  

On the shop floor of supermarkets there is one shoplifting tactic which has become so commonplace, staff have given it its own name. “Best life hack ever,” one TikTok user claims in a viral video, joking that they managed to get a TV and Playstation through a self-service checkout by logging them as grapes or bananas. “The thing is when …

Lawless Britain? How police have failed to solve over HALF of all shoplifting cases in the past five years, with more than 200k going unsolved in 2023 - around 560 a DAY
11 months, 3 weeks ago

Lawless Britain? How police have failed to solve over HALF of all shoplifting cases in the past five years, with more than 200k going unsolved in 2023 - around 560 a DAY

Daily Mail  

Police failed to solve more than half of shoplifting cases in the past year, new data revealed today. But despite a fall in overall cases - there was a low of 241,603 in 2020-21 during the Covid pandemic, when many shops were closed - the proportion of unsolved cases has continued to rise, peaking at 57 per cent last year, …

Is YOUR area a shoplifter's paradise? Shocking interactive map reveals where thieves are getting away scot-free… with just a 5% conviction rate in worst region
11 months, 4 weeks ago

Is YOUR area a shoplifter's paradise? Shocking interactive map reveals where thieves are getting away scot-free… with just a 5% conviction rate in worst region

Daily Mail  

A new interactive map reveals the huge disparity in where shoplifters get off without being charged, laying bare the crime wave affecting England's supermarkets and shops. Brazen shoplifters stealing for a shop in Doncaster, South Yorkshire in October this year The shoplifter leaves the store after stealing items from the store on October 30 2023 Paul Gerrard, director of public …

Met Police attend less than half of shoplifting incidents in the past year, figures reveal, as offending blows £1 billion black hole in UK high streets
1 year ago

Met Police attend less than half of shoplifting incidents in the past year, figures reveal, as offending blows £1 billion black hole in UK high streets

Daily Mail  

Scotland Yard attended less than half of shoplifting incidents in the last year, despite soaring offending blowing a £1billion annual black hole in Britain's high streets. Scotland Yard attended less than half of shoplifting incidents in the last year, despite soaring offending blowing a £1billion annual black hole in Britain's high streets But campaigners have warned that a reluctance to …

Don't beg or borrow, just steal: European gangs exploiting trafficked women and children in UK shoplifting epidemic
1 year ago

Don't beg or borrow, just steal: European gangs exploiting trafficked women and children in UK shoplifting epidemic

Firstpost  

Groups send members across the UK to shoplift, even trafficking young girls aged 12 to 14 for this purpose. Despite arrests and convictions, their age often results in quick release Retail experts have issued a warning that Eastern European criminal gangs are trafficking hundreds of vulnerable women and children to the UK, compelling them to shoplift for illicit gains. This …

The Shoplifting Epidemic Touted By Fox News Is Likely Overblown, Data Shows
1 year ago

The Shoplifting Epidemic Touted By Fox News Is Likely Overblown, Data Shows

Huff Post  

LOADING ERROR LOADING There is a retail crime wave terrorizing Americans — if you’re tuned in to conservative media. After looking through a video database of Fox programming over the last five years, Media Matters found a very small number of retail theft mentions between 2019 and 2020 — just 35. Considering how many national outlets are based in New …

Shoplifting surged a staggering 64% in New York City in the past four years - with Los Angeles also seeing a 61% spike
1 year, 1 month ago

Shoplifting surged a staggering 64% in New York City in the past four years - with Los Angeles also seeing a 61% spike

Daily Mail  

Shoplifting continues to be a major crisis in America's two largest cities, as thefts increased 64 percent in New York City and 61 percent in Los Angeles over the last four years. Six other major American cities have Shoplifting continues to be a major crisis in America's two largest cities, as thefts increased 64 percent in New York City and …

Fuel thefts from Britain’s petrol stations soar in mirror of shoplifting epidemic
1 year, 1 month ago

Fuel thefts from Britain’s petrol stations soar in mirror of shoplifting epidemic

The Telegraph  

The shoplifting epidemic hitting Britain has been mirrored on filling station forecourts – with petrol thefts up by almost 400 per cent since before the pandemic. The number of petrol and diesel thefts this year was also 77 per cent higher than last year’s figure, with 22,335 registration requests across the July to September period. ‘Big and growing problem’ Steve …

Police won’t attend every shoplifting despite ‘zero-tolerance’ pledge
1 year, 2 months ago

Police won’t attend every shoplifting despite ‘zero-tolerance’ pledge

The Telegraph  

Police chiefs pledged to follow up on “any evidence that could reasonably lead” to the catching of perpetrators. Mr Philp said: “I have been clear that we need the police to implement a zero-tolerance approach to shoplifting by attending more crime scenes, patrolling badly affected areas and pursuing all reasonable lines of enquiry. “Police have made a commitment to prioritise …

Police resist demands to respond to every case of shoplifting
1 year, 2 months ago

Police resist demands to respond to every case of shoplifting

The Telegraph  

Police chiefs are resisting demands to respond to every case of shoplifting despite a record surge in thefts from stores. Ministers want police to investigate every crime – including shoplifting below £200 – where there is a reasonable line of inquiry. However, police chiefs argue that it is “not realistic” for officers to respond to every case of shoplifting because …

Shoplifting hits record high of 1,000 offences a day
1 year, 2 months ago

Shoplifting hits record high of 1,000 offences a day

The Telegraph  

Shoplifting has hit a record high of 1,000 offences a day, an unprecedented 25 per cent increase in a year, official figures showed on Thursday. However, the detection rate for shoplifters has fallen to a record low with just 18.2 per cent of offences being solved, less than half the 46 per cent when records began in 2016. The figures …

Shoplifting to be treated as ‘high-harm’ crime by new national police team
1 year, 2 months ago

Shoplifting to be treated as ‘high-harm’ crime by new national police team

The Telegraph  

Details of the crackdown are expected to be trailed on Monday by Chris Philp, the policing minister and Katy Bourne, the police and crime commissioner for Sussex and national lead for business and retail crime, who said gangs had been left free to operate for years because of the lack of a co-ordinated national approach. It is understood a team …

We live in the shoplifting capital of Britain... it's completely LAWLESS, we've given up on the police
1 year, 2 months ago

We live in the shoplifting capital of Britain... it's completely LAWLESS, we've given up on the police

Daily Mail  

Store owners in Britain's shoplifting capital are living in a 'lawless' town where gangland bosses rule the streets and thieves openly sell their stolen goods. Shop owners and locals in Hartlepool, which falls under the protection of Cleveland Police, told MailOnline criminal gang bosses had taken charge and shoplifting was rife. Cleveland topped the rankings as the place with the …

UK's shoplifting capitals: Interactive map reveals the places where light-fingered locals are ransacking stores the worst - so how bad is YOUR area?
1 year, 3 months ago

UK's shoplifting capitals: Interactive map reveals the places where light-fingered locals are ransacking stores the worst - so how bad is YOUR area?

Daily Mail  

Less than 20 per cent of shoplifting offences resulted in suspects being charged As Britain reels from a shoplifting crisis that is hitting stores across the country, the worst areas afflicted by the crime have been revealed. Cleveland tops the table as the place with the most number of shoplifting crimes in the past five years per 1,000 people. Cleveland …

Thieves target stores every TWO seconds in Britain, costing retailers more than £1billion last year alone, shocking figures show - as Suella Braverman backs a Mail campaign to end the shoplifting epid
1 year, 3 months ago

Thieves target stores every TWO seconds in Britain, costing retailers more than £1billion last year alone, shocking figures show - as Suella Braverman backs a Mail campaign to end the shoplifting epid

Daily Mail  

The Mail on Sunday today reveals the shocking reality of the epidemic of shoplifting that is blighting Britain, as we launch a major campaign to crack down on the crime. The Mail on Sunday's campaign – calling for the police, Crown Prosecution Service and courts to be much tougher with shoplifters, and for a change in the law to make …

Arrest shoplifters even if they steal goods under £200, says policing minister
1 year, 3 months ago

Arrest shoplifters even if they steal goods under £200, says policing minister

The Telegraph  

He said that unless stringent action was taken, British cities could end up like San Francisco, where shops were forced to close because of an escalation in violent shoplifting. He told Parliament two months ago: “We have seen that elsewhere in the world – I think in particular about San Francisco, as well as other American cities – where both …

Shoplifters could be handed prison sentences under revisions to crime bill
1 year, 4 months ago

Shoplifters could be handed prison sentences under revisions to crime bill

The Independent  

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Shoplifters committing repeat …

Co-Op boss warns crime is out of control as some shops looted three times a day
1 year, 4 months ago

Co-Op boss warns crime is out of control as some shops looted three times a day

The Independent  

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Matt Hood, Co-op Food’s managing …

1 in 10 young Brits admit shoplifting due to cost of living crisis: Study
1 year, 7 months ago

1 in 10 young Brits admit shoplifting due to cost of living crisis: Study

Hindustan Times  

In a shocking revelation, one in 10 young adults in the UK has admitted to steal products from supermarkets to tackle the cost-of-living crisis, according to a study by money-saving app ZipZero, The Metro reports. As the crisis worsens, one in five Britishers has coped to financial aid to pay for his/her essentials. Food, fuel, rent, broadband, taxes and soon …

LA authorities announce arrests in smash-and-grab robberies
3 years ago

LA authorities announce arrests in smash-and-grab robberies

Associated Press  

LOS ANGELES — Authorities in Los Angeles on Thursday announced more than a dozen arrests in recent smash-and-grab thefts at stores where nearly $340,000 worth of merchandise was stolen, part of a rash of organized retail crime in California. At a joint news conference, both Moore and Mayor Eric Garcetti called for an end to a no-bail policy for some …

Police searching for brazen shoplifters captured emptying shopping carts full of goods
3 years, 1 month ago

Police searching for brazen shoplifters captured emptying shopping carts full of goods

Daily Mail  

Police are searching for a group of shoplifters who were captured flinging household products into their two stolen vehicles after swiping the items from a Connecticut grocery store before speeding away. Stunned onlookers watched as the brazen bandits methodically unloaded shopping carts full of laundry detergent and paper towels into a minivan and an SUV that police say were stolen. …

Empty shelves in New York drug stores as shoplifting surge hits city
3 years, 2 months ago

Empty shelves in New York drug stores as shoplifting surge hits city

The Independent  

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy A wave of shoplifting …

Discover Related