More people could turn to crime due to cost-of-living crisis

THE cost-of-living crisis is likely to lead to a rise in theft and shoplifting, a top cop has warned.

Desperation and a lack of cash will see more people turn to crime to try to make ends meet, according to Community Inspector Tony Rogers.

He said South West Fife had “bucked the trend” with a drop in the number of offences in 2021-22, compared to increases in other parts of the Kingdom.

However Insp Rogers added: “Acquisitive crime increased and I would expect that to continue to increase.

“That’s dishonesty, theft, shoplifting etc and given the cost-ofliving crisis, I would expect that knock-on to come into crimes like shoplifting.”

Last month, the

Press reported that area commander Ch Insp Joanne McEwan had told councillors on the City of Dunfermline area committee that theft by shoplifting had spiked by 17 per cent in Dunfermline compared to the previous year, with the majority of thefts being food-, alcohol- and clothing-related, suggesting links to the cost of living.

Giving an update at last week’s South and West Fife area committee, he said they had also “faced some real challenges” with antisocial behaviour in Rosyth, Inverkeithing and Aberdour in 202122.

He told councillors that a range of short-term measures, engaging with youngsters and diversion activities, had all helped restore calm, while there were high hopes that a new collaboration with Kingdom Off Road Motorcycle Club will keep youngsters out of trouble.

Insp Rogers said: “Traditionally, anti-social behaviour forms a large part of the demand.

“I don’t want to tempt fate too much but I’m pleased to report that we’ve definitely seen a decline in youth disorder and anti-social behaviour over the last few months, which is really promising.

“There are some localised, sporadic issues but, really, since the issues we had in Blairhall, these have really been quite isolated.”

Trouble in Blairhall saw a bus company pull their services out of the village in May after vehicles were targeted repeatedly by youths.

A brick was thrown through a Bay Travel bus window in one of the incidents, with a passenger said to have been lucky to avoid serious injury.

The service was reinstated, with a police presence, and a report to the committee said they had responded to the spike in vandalism and anti-social behaviour with increased patrols.

It said: “This provided reassurance to both the drivers and passengers who had been victim of some of this behaviour.

“Local community groups were also engaged in an attempt to identify persons responsible. This work is ongoing alongside engagement with social work.”

A sub-group to help tackle anti-social behaviour has been set up, with a partnership approach adopted, while the report added that problems at Prestonhill Quarry in Inverkeithing, another identified ‘hotspot’ for youths, had been alleviated partly through restricting access to the site.

Insp Rogers said that, with the worst of the pandemic hopefully over, they would seek to re-engage with the community and try to attend meetings.

He said they hoped to keep locals better informed about police activities with monthly reports to community councils.