Government in U-turn over shop staff attacks
PRIME Minister Rishi Sunak has said fresh measures to stop retail crime will show shop workers that “we’ve got their back” as he announced assaulting shop staff will be made a separate criminal offence.
Mr Sunak visited a Boots store in Horsham, West Sussex, for the announcement where staff showed him safety measures in place for workers, such as a panic button and bodyworn cameras.
Speaking to reporters at Horsham police station, he said: “I have been concerned by the rise in retail crime as I’m sure many others are either seeing it or on social media, which is why today we’ve announced a strong set of measures to clamp down on retail crime.
“(It’s) been warmly welcomed by retailers and police that I’ve spoken to today and crucially will demonstrate to our shop workers that we’ve got their back and also that we will do what it takes to keep our streets and our community safe.”
Assaulting a shop worker is to be made a separate criminal offence after the Government U-turned in the face of a longrunning campaign.
Ministers had previously ruled out legislating to create a new offence, saying in response to a parliamentary petition in October they did not think it was
“required or will be most effective”.
But yesterday, Mr Sunak announced that his Government will be amending its Criminal Justice Bill to bring in the new offence, which will apply to England and Wales.
He previously said: “I am sending a message to those criminals – whether they are serious organised criminal gangs, repeat offenders or opportunistic thieves – who think they can get away with stealing from these local businesses or abusing shop workers, enough is enough.
“Our local shops are the lifeblood of our communities, and they must be free to trade without the threat of crime or abuse.”
The new offence will carry a maximum sentence of six months’ imprisonment or an unlimited fine, the same sentence for the existing offence of common assault.
Repeat offenders could also be forced to wear an electronic tag, as could consistent shoplifters, under amendments to the Bill making its way through Parliament.
The Government also plans to pilot community sentencing measures with an as yet unnamed police force to tackle high levels of shoplifting, along with greater use of facial recognition technology to identify people.
Paddy Lillis, general secretary of retail union Usdaw, said the Government’s U-turn was “long overdue”.