ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) welcomes the Home Office’s announcement that charges for calls to the 101 police non-emergency number will be dropped.
Currently, callers to the 101 number are connected to their local police force or a force of their choice at a cost of 15p a time. Today’s announcement (28th May) means that the number will be free of charge to call for all members of the public from April 2020.
Figures from the ACS 2019 Crime Report show that 83% of staff working in local shops have been subjected to verbal abuse within the past 12 months.
ACS chief executive James Lowman said: “We are pleased with this move from the Home Office to scrap the charge for calling the police non-emergency number, dropping this charge removes a potential barrier for reporting incidents to the police.
“It is important that any and all incidents of crime are reported and we are supportive of measures which make it easier for members of the public, including retailers who experience crime, to report incidents.”
The Home Office launched a call for evidence which seeks data relating to violence and abuse toward shop workers, including the extent to which incidents are linked to age-restricted sales of products like cigarettes and alcohol.
ACS has created an online template which is available here to help retailers respond to the call for evidence. The deadline for responses is 28th June 2019. If you have any further questions, please email Eleanor.O’[email protected] or call 01252 515001.
ACS has also been working with the Home Office to deliver a campaign which highlights the human impact of crime and encourages retailers and staff to report any incident that occurs. Retailers and their staff are being encouraged to #AlwaysReportAbuse, either to 999 in an emergency, to 101 for other incidents, or to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 if they want to report incidents anonymously.
For more information, please visit: https://crimestoppers-uk.org/campaigns-media/campaigns/report-abuse-against-shop-workers
