RETAIL CRIME

RESEARCH: ACS CRIME REPORT 2021

£142M LOST TO CRIME IN LAST YEAR

THE LATEST ACS CRIME REPORT REVEALS SOME STAGGERING FIGURESTHAT ILLUSTRATE VERY CLEARLY HOW RETAIL CRIME REMAINS THEBIGGEST CHALLENGE FACING THE LOCAL RETAILING SECTOR.

The 2021 Crime Report, launched by the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) yesterday, has thrown the spotlight one more on the horrific extent of retail crime. Crime has cost local shops more than £142m in the last year and almost 400,000 industry colleagues continue to face abuse on a routine basis.

The report reveals that 89% of colleagues working in local shops have experienced some form of abuse, with over 1.2 million incidents recorded over the last year.

Throughout the pandemic, convenience stores have stayed open, providing essential goods and services whilst adapting their businesses to ensure that they’re Covid secure. But despite limits on customer numbers in many stores and an overall drop in the number of people visiting c-stores over the last year, there have still been an estimated 1.1 million incidents of shop theft recorded in the convenience sector.

ACS Chief Executive James Lowman said: “Over a million shop thefts and incidents of violence and abuse aren’t just big numbers, each one is a crime that has a personal impact on retailers and their colleagues. For so many people in local shops to have suffered this kind of abuse, just for doing their jobs, is shocking and must not be allowed to be normalised.

“Convenience stores have been on the front line serving their communities throughout the last year, but despite this they have been the constant target of criminals, often repeat offenders, who aren’t being dealt with properly by the justice system. This results in fewer retailers being willing to report crimes and less trust in the ability of the police to respond to incidents when they occur.

“We need action now to ensure that everyone, from neighbourhood police and the courts to Police and Crime Commissioners and central Government, takes crimes committed against retailers and their colleagues seriously. The upcoming PCC elections in May are an opportunity for every candidate to set out their priorities and commit to tackling this issue and supporting local shops.”

FINANCIAL COST OF CRIME

Crimes committed against the convenience sector cost £142m over the last year alone, equating to over £3,000 per store.

Stores have had to invest heavily over the last year to make their businesses safer. Over £175m has been spent by retailers on crime prevention measures like CCTV, external security staff and intruder alarms. Taken together with the cost of crimes committed, there is effectively a 5p crime tax on every transaction in stores.

COVID-19 RELATED ABUSE

One of the biggest changes facing convenience stores over the last year has been how to adapt their stores to keep customers and colleagues safe. This has resulted in stores investing in perspex screens, new technology to manage customer numbers, and a range of other social distancing measures.

While these changes have been welcomed by the vast majority of customers, Covid-related abuse has become one of the biggest issues facing retailers and is now one of the top triggers of violence in store.

65% of respondents have seen Covid-related threats to staff, with the most common causes of Covid-related abuse being:

Reminding customers to wear face coverings

Reminding customers of social distancing measures

Queueing outside stores

Requesting removal of face coverings to check ID.

VIOLENCE AGAINST RETAILERS AND THEIR COLLEAGUES

Over the last year, there have been around 40,000 incidents of violence against people working in convenience stores.

Of these, over one in four involved a weapon, such as a knife, hammer, axe or syringe.

EVIDENCE FOR ACTION

This year’s Crime Report launched ahead of the 2021 Police and Crime Commissioner elections that will be held across England and Wales. After just 18 of the 42 current PCCs included any reference to business crime in their Police and Crime Plans, the Association of Convenience Stores has called on all prospective PCCs to take action in four areas to support local shops:

Create police-led business engagement teams with dedicated resource to engage with the retail sector

Provide funding for ‘Second Chance’ Programmes to deal with repeat offenders suffering from addiction issues

Use Community Remedy Powers to ban repeat offenders from local shops

Provide better support for victims of violence and abuse in local shops.