Shoplifting has hit a record high across the country as thieves steal “without fear of apprehension” - but a new map shows that North East Lincolnshire is one of the few places where it has fallen. Police in England and Wales recorded 444,000 shoplifting offences in the year ending March 2024, a 30% increase on the previous year (342,000 crimes) and the highest since records began 20 years ago. But in some parts of the country, the rise in theft from shops was much steeper - trebling in one area and doubling in seven others.
Home Office figures show that in Eastbourne, Sussex, police recorded 2,150 crimes of shoplifting in the year ending March 2024 - dwarfing the 676 offences the previous year, and a 218% rise. Shoplifting also doubled in Mid Sussex, Horsham, Bracknell Forest, Rother, Blaby, Bridgend, and South Derbyshire. READ MORE: New PA system which plays messages every 15 minutes to be trialled in Grimsby town centre Keep up to date with all the latest breaking news and top stories from Grimsby with our free newsletter But while shoplifting increased in the majority of more than 300 police community safety partnership areas - which broadly match council areas - retail theft did go down in 28 areas, including by 3% in North East Lincolnshire, from 1,448 reports in the year to March 2023 to 1400 to March 2024.
In North Lincolnshire, however, it rose by 24 per cent, from 1053 to 1309. In East Lindsey it crept up by 1%. The Isle of Anglesey in Wales saw the biggest drop.