NBCC responds to rise in retail crime
The British Retail Consortium have released their Annual Crime Survey 2024 which shows some significant increases in the number of retail crimes and incidents of violence and abuse against retail workers.
- Retail violence and abuse increased over 50% to more than 2,000 incidents a day
- Losses from customer theft reached a record £2.2 billion in 2023/24
- Record crime levels come despite retailers spending £1.8 billion on prevention
The survey also shows that theft is at an all-time high with over 20 million incidents (over 55,000 per day) costing retailers £2.2 billion in 2023/24 (up from £1.8 billion the previous year).
Many more incidents are linked to organised crime, with gangs systematically targeting stores across the country, stealing tens of thousands of pounds worth of goods and rotating around multiple stores.
In response to the survey, Supt Patrick Holdaway, the lead for the National Business Crime Centre commented: “The figures in the BRC survey are deeply concerning particularly around incidents of violence and abuse towards retail workers. The policing response to retail crime is improving but we know more needs to be done.
"The Retail Crime Action Plan and the work of the NBCC and others to help implement the plan is starting to make a difference in terms of increased reporting and retailers providing digital evidence to police to aid investigations and bring offenders to justice. The NBCC’s National week of action held in October, saw thousands of officers’ target retail crime which resulted in over 750 arrests with many cases progressing through the courts.
"We will continue to work with retailers and policing to understand the challenges both are facing and provide support around crime prevention, gathering digital evidence and managing national campaigns to tackle retail crime together.”
You can see the full results here: BRC Annual Crime Survey
