The Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) has welcomed a commitment from Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper MP to get tougher on the ‘epidemic’ of shoplifting.
At the Labour Party Conference this morning, the Shadow Home Secretary highlighted the issues faced by retailers and shopworkers across the UK with theft and abuse, emphasing the challenges that they are dealing with when it comes to getting meaningful intervention from the police.
In her speech, the Shadow Home Secretary committed to putting a stop to the idea that there is a £200 threshold for investigating incidents of theft, to bringing in respect orders that would ban repeat offenders from town centres and high streets, and to introducing 13,000 more neighbourhood police officers and PCSOs to patrol the streets and make people feel safer.
Cooper said: “We will stand with Usdaw, with the Co-op, with Tesco, with our convenience stores, with retailers and shopworkers across the country with a new law and tougher sentences for attacks on shopworkers because everyone has the right to feel safe at work.”
The ACS has repeatedly called for tougher interventions to stop repeat offending and urging elected Police and Crime Commissioners to make tackling theft a priority in their local plans.
James Lowman chief executive of ACS said: “Effective penalties are a vital part of tackling retail crime, and something we have long campaigned for. To get to the point where courts are actually in a position to use these penalties, we need the police to investigate every incident and pursue those who abuse and intimidate shopworkers and retailers.”
Figures from a recent ACS Crime Report revealed that there were over 1.1m incidents of theft recorded over the last year, with two thirds of those committing theft being repeat offenders.
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