Lioncroft Wholesale CEO and Unitas chairman Dr Jason Wouhra is urging independent retailers to report all retail crime to the police as incidents of theft continue to rise.
In an open letter, Wouhra urged the sector to take action after figures from the Crime Survey for England and Wales found that in the past year, more than 6.2 million incidents of shoplifting were recorded. According to the Association of Convenience Stores, this has cost retailers more than £2.2bn.
“While some may view shoplifting as a victimless crime, in the wholesale and retail sector we know this couldn’t be further from the truth,” he explained. “Not only does retail theft often lead to violence and abuse towards retail staff, but family-run retail businesses are already under incredible pressure to meet rising costs simply to open their stores and stock their shelves, and they cannot continue to absorb these losses.”
Wouhra noted the role of police, pointing to his local force, West Midlands Police, which has reported a 60% increase in suspected shop thefts over the past two years, “thanks to changes made to its police model and call handling systems”.
“These changes have seen emergency 999 calls answered in an average of two seconds, while 101 calls had an average wait time of 20 seconds. West Midlands Police also reported a staggering 235% increase in the number of offenders being charged, cautioned or given out-of-court resolutions in the same time period, which is good news indeed,” he continued.
West Midlands Police chief constable Craig Guildford added: “We take shop theft and retail crime seriously, and the improvements we’ve made to how we respond are making a real difference.
“With faster call handling, more officers investigating local crime, dedicated prevention work with our key reoffenders and stronger outcomes for victims, we’re now starting to see real impact. We know there is more to do and we are committed to tackling this crime and helping to keep shopworkers safe.”
Wouhra is urging for this approach to be rolled out across the UK. “A great starting point will be to encourage convenience retailers across the UK to report every instance of retail crime, no matter how small.
“We know that historically retailers won’t report retail crime as they lack faith that it will be investigated. However, these results from West Midlands Police show what can be achieved with a dedicated focus,” he added.
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