According to reports from the Office of National Statistics (ONS), crime in England and Wales has seen its largest annual increase in a decade.
Figures from ONS have shown that a total of around five million crimes were reported to and recorded by the police last year, this is a ten per cent rise from the previous year. These crimes include a range of offences such as burglary, theft and violent crimes.
Key points from the report include:
- Public order offences rose by 39%
- Violent crime against a person has increased by 18%
- Theft has grown by 7%
The Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS) has provided approximations of crime against selected businesses covered within its sample. In 2016, the CVS found that businesses in both the retail and wholesale sector experienced around 5.2m incidents, at a rate of 13,000 occurrences per 1,000 business premises.
There are a range of incident types which concern retailers, these are inclusive of the following: violence against staff, staff theft, customer theft, verbal abuse and robbery. The police have seen an increase across all areas but there was a notable rise in shoplifting offences at a 10% increase.
ACS chief executive James Lowman said: “Shop theft has a significant damaging impact on the convenience sector, costing retailers over £131m last year alone. While retailers are making investments in their stores to prevent and deal with the impact of crime, the consistency of police response remains a concern for many, especially given the latest figures on the number of officers falling. We encourage the government and local police forces to look at ways to ensure that crimes against retailers receive the attention they need and that offenders are dealt with using effective deterrents.
The Crime Report 2017 provides advice for retailers about how to handle incidents of crime in their store and preventative measures that they can take to minimise their risks of being a victim of crime.
