Fed member and Northern district president Martin Ward recently took to the airwaves to slam the rise in shoplifting, saying: “It’s an everyday occurrence” and adding that opening his doors on a morning fills him with dread.
On Tuesday morning (17 December), Martin, who owns Cowpen Lane News in Billingham, joined other concerned members of the public to discuss the damming effects of retail crime with Nicky Campbell on BBC Radio 5 Live.
Retail crime has blighted retail over recent years and many retailers feel there is very little being done. An increase of 28 per cent on 2023 reporting levels of shoplifting was reported by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) earlier this year.
Martin went on: “You don’t know what you’re going to get when you open the doors every morning. It’s definitely got a lot worse over the last five to ten years.” Campbell pressed Martin, asking how members of the public can help and how to stop them. Martin replied: “Shouting at them is fine, as long as you are at a distance. The problem you’ve got is these people are dangerous, they don’t want to get stopped, they’ll do whatever they need to not get stopped.”
Martin then recounted when three shoplifters came into his store and, after narrowly missing them to challenge the assailants, he later learnt from the police that one of the criminals was known to carry a knife.
When discussing what actions members of the public can take, a recently retired former police inspector who was also on the call, said that anyone who reports shoplifting, public or shopkeeper, needs to be clear.
He said: “You’ve got to report it every time. You may or may not get the response you hoped for. Sometimes we would listen to a 999 tape of a report that someone had a shoplifter in the store, and when we got there we would find out there was a violent robbery with a weapon.
“It’s really important when ringing the police to actually mention what’s happening. If there are weapons involved or violence threatened, please say that as there will be someone who decides which 999 calls get priority and the rule of thumb with those decisions is people become a bigger priority than property every single day.
“If the shoplifting is in progress and involves violence, it is a 999 call every time and you need to mention the violence and that it’s ongoing, as that does affect the assessments and priority of the call.
“What I’ve found with shoplifters is, if you’re watching them, they don’t do it directly in front of you, so if everyone is watching there might be less of it, but they may just move on to somewhere else.”
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