This month we published our annual Crime Report, looking at the overall scale and impact of crimes committed against the convenience sector. The headline figures paint a stark picture, with almost a million incidents of shop theft reported over the past year and the total cost of crime amounting to almost £200m.
Measuring the national picture in our Crime Report is an important way of demonstrating to the government and the police why crimes such as shop theft need to be taken seriously. We use the data to raise concerns with ministers, MPs, PCCs and leaders in the police, and have written to all of them calling for more to be done to support retailers and their staff.
But beyond the statistics, it’s important for us to highlight the personal impact that crime has on the people working in stores.
Alongside the main Crime Report, we also provide guidance which helps people working in stores prevent incidents happening altogether where possible, but when the worst does happen and serious crimes occur, also help to mitigate the human and business impact and ensure that the police have all the information they need for their investigation.
Dealing with crime remains an all too common part of running a convenience store business. While there is no easy answer to the question of how to stop these incidents happening, we can make sure that everyone in the system, from local police forces through to police and crime commissioners and central government policymakers, appreciate the seriousness of retail crime and work together think of new ways to tackle the problem.
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