Shoplift yobs strike yards from police
A VIDEO showing two men brazenly stealing from a Boots store just round the corner from a police station has intensified calls for urgent action on shoplifting.
The clip emerged as offences hit record levels – and suspects were collared in just four in 10 incidents.
It shows two men throwing products into large sports bags and casually walking out of the shop in broad daylight.
Chingford Police station is just 200 yards away.
The lawless duo struck in Sir Iain Duncan Smith’s East London constituency of Chingford andwoodford Green.
The former Tory leader Sir Iain said: “This is not an isolated incident but has been occurring with alarming regularity and frequency. It cannot go on.”
He has spoken directly with PM Rishi Sunak and Home Secretary James Cleverly about “uncontrolled shoplifting” in his constituency and is demanding a meeting with Met Police.
Shadow Attorney General Emily Thornberry, Labour MP for Islington South and Finsbury, has also spoken out after talking to staff at her local Co-op.
She said: “There are groups that come in. They are usually out of their heads on drugs, they have no fear and they take stuff in front of everybody.
“They shout abuse and assault staff, and it happens in front of members of the public. I was really shocked that this is the life of people who work in shops.”
There were a record 430,104 incidents of shoplifting last year – 1,178 every day.
But many offences go unreported because shop staff have lost faith in police to take shoplifting seriously.
In 2023, 248,314 cases – nearly six in ten – were closed without a suspect being identified. It means 680 shoplifting incidents every day go unsolved. And just 68,109 cases in England and Wales resulted in a suspect being charged or summonsed in 2023 – one in six of those reported to police.
Shops lost stock worth £1.8billion to theft last year – the first time the bill has topped a billion, according to the British Retail Consortium.
Meanwhile, traders are spending £1.2billion on efforts to fight crime.
Organised gangs often turn violent and abusive “and have even been reported to return to steal again within 10 minutes or so of being caught”, says the BRC.
But just one in three incidents involving violence or abuse are reported. Of those that are, only eight per cent result in a prosecution.
The BRC told MPS: “Retailers have been disappointed with the support received from the police.”
However, the Co-op told the same committee that co-operation with officers had improved in recent months.
BRC chief Helen Dickinson said: “Retail violence has steadily worsened, with people facing racial abuse, sexual harassment, threatening behaviour, physical assault and threats with weapons, often linked to organised crime.
“It is vital the police use incoming legislation to step up their response to incidents.we must stamp out this scourge in crime that has been sweeping the nation and ensure retail workers are given the vital protections they deserve.”
Mr Sunak has announced plans for a standalone criminal offence of assaulting a shop worker.those found guilty face an unlimited fine or up to six months in jail.
Offenders could also be banned from returning to the scene of their offence.
‘They have no fear, they assault staff’