Police are giving up on shoplifters: Forces have almost stopped punishing shop thieves with cautions, fixed penalty notices and court convictions plummeting despite offences rising to record levels By Rory Tingle, Home Affairs Correspondent For Mailonline Published: 05:11 EDT, 27 August 2024 | Updated: 05:19 EDT, 27 August 2024 e-mail 24 View comments Police have largely stopped punishing shoplifters as the number of offences rises to record levels, official figures reveal. Retail experts have repeatedly warned that the rise of shoplifting is being driven by the perception that it was a risk-free crime . And the idea that most shoplifters are getting off scot-free is supported by newly uncovered statistics, which show all forms of punishment are in decline.
Just 431 shoplifters in the year to March received fixed penalty notices - the lowest form of punishment for goods under £100 - down 98 per cent from 19,419 a decade ago. The use of cautions, which are added to an offender's criminal record, has also plummeted from 16,281 in 2014 to only 2,077 in the last year - a drop of 87 per cent. Just 431 shoplifters in the year to March received fixed penalty notices - the lowest form of punishment for goods under £100 - down 98 per cent from 19,419 a decade ago Almost 444,000 shoplifting offences were recorded by forces in England and Wales in the year to March Home Secretary Yvette Cooper vowed to 'end the shameful neglect of this problem' that has 'allowed it to become an epidemic in our society' There has been a significant decline in the number of retail thieves pursued through the courts, with 28,955 convictions over the last year versus 71,998 a decade ago.
Reacting to the figures, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper vowed to 'end the shameful neglect of this problem' that has 'allowed it to become an epidemic in our society'. Outlining her plans, she told The Times : 'We will remove the £200 threshold, bring in stronger powers to ban repeat offenders from town centres, make assaults on shop workers a specific criminal offence, and, through our neighbourhood policing guarantee, we will put thousands more police onto our streets to crack down on shop theft, antisocial behaviour and the other crimes that blight our communities and make people feel unsafe.' Almost 444,000 shoplifting offences were recorded by forces in England and Wales in the year to March, up from 342,428 in the previous 12 months - the highest figure since records began in 2003.
Read More Six million people are using self-checkouts to steal from stores The Mail on Sunday previously revealed that as few as 12 gangs are behind a quarter of all shoplifting in England and Wales, with some foreign offenders flying in to steal and flee the same day on budget flights. In a markedly rare example of offences being brought to justice, last week saw the jailing of three Romanian women who targeted make-up and beauty counters in a £40,000 month-long crime spree. Ancuta-Alexandra Ion, 28, Grama Zorila, 31, and Ana Iosif, 28, who formed part of a 'professional shoplifting gang', struck at supermarkets and high street stores across East Anglia, travelling from their homes in London.
In one outing, they escaped with a haul of goods worth £12,000 which are believed to have been stolen to order as part of a wider criminal network. The gang were caught when police stopped their car and found cosmetics and clothes stuffed in the footwells and boots of two cars they were driving. Beauty products are a popular target for shoplifting gangs because of their small size, high value and ease with which they can be resold.
Zorila and Iosif both received 23-month jail terms and Ion was locked up for 20 months after they admitted conspiracy to steal between May 1 and June 1 last year. Footage filmed last month shows a group of men brazenly grabbing goods from a Boots store in north London before loading them into bags in front of shocked shoppers A customer at the store in Barnet tells one of the men 'you need to stop'. He replies 'yeah, I'm going innit' as he continues stripping shelves with no attempt to hide what he is doing Footage filmed last month shows a group of men brazenly grabbing goods from a Boots store in north London before loading them into bags in front of shocked shoppers.
A customer at the store in Barnet tells one of the men 'you need to stop'. He replies 'yeah, I'm going innit' as he continues stripping shelves with no attempt to hide what he is doing. Read More I'm addicted to shoplifting from high-end stores Professor Joshua Bamfield Director, Centre for Retail Research, said the rise of shoplifting was being driven by the perception that it was a risk-free crime .
He recently told MailOnline: ' At one time, shoplifting used to be a sort of craft where people didn't want to get caught because they knew they'd be trouble, but now people don't even bother because there's a perception nothing much will happen to you. 'A lot of retail crime now is organised, with people stealing large quantities of products like alcohol , meat and designer clothes. They are linked to other criminals who sell it on elsewhere.
'The fact thefts below £200 are not pursued and there are a lot of demands on officers mean retailers have found it very difficult to get the kind of support they require. 'Meanwhile, managers have become increasingly concerned about the violence that apprehending shoplifters can involve so are telling their employees not to risk it. 'So you've got two issues - shoplifting being partly decriminalised and the fact the police are too busy, then retailers telling shop staff not to intervene.
A shoplifter empties the shelves of a Greggs store in south east London into a giant holdall last month Professor Bamfield suggested the latest police figures may actually underplay the seriousness of the situation due to underreporting. 'Shops are rationing their use of police, which means offences are going unreported,' he said. 'I spoke to one retailer who said the police had told them only to report two shoplifting offences a day because they don't have enough time.
' The retail expert suggested the only way to tackle the epidemic was to make it a priority for law enforcement. 'Shoplifting is often an individual's way to becoming a serious criminal so if you stop them at 15 or 16 that may get them off that path,' he said. Separate data from the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) estimates retailers have recorded more than 5.
6million incidents of theft over the last year. ACS chief executive James Lowman said the gangs committing the majority of these crimes were typically organised, stealing to fund other criminal activity or substance abuse. 'They are often stealing to order, targeting higher value items to sell on to normal people who are struggling with the cost of living,' he added.
'These thieves are stealing on a regular basis without fear of apprehension, so it's essential that every police force in the country takes theft seriously, not least because challenging thieves is one of the biggest triggers for abuse of shopworkers.' Wales Yvette Cooper London New York Times Share or comment on this article: Police are giving up on shoplifters: Forces have almost stopped punishing shop thieves with cautions, fixed penalty notices and court convictions plummeting despite offences rising to record levels e-mail Add comment.
