Fury over 200,000 unsolved shoplifting circumstances as Tories ‘let gangs off the hook’
More than 200,000 shoplifting circumstances went unsolved final yr as Tories did not take care of a “growing crime epidemic”, it has been revealed.
Analysis of Home Office figures reveal that over 500 circumstances a day had been closed with no suspect being recognized in England and Wales. This is a 32% improve from the earlier yr and a five-year excessive.
Just one in seven such circumstances resulted in a suspect being charged or summonsed, Home Office knowledge reveals. Latest figures present 205,676 shoplifting circumstances had been dropped within the yr to July. During that point 362,809 circumstances had been reported to police.
Since 2019 there have been 843,406 shoplifting circumstances closed with no suspect being recognized, the Lib Dems discovered. Ministers face calls to spend money on frontline policing relatively than “gimmicks” so as to deal with organised gangs behind rising thefts. A brand new shoplifting taskforce will obtain £30,000 a yr from the Government – however the Lib Dems mentioned this quantities to simply 7p per offence.
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) estimates there have been eight million shoplifting circumstances within the yr to March. And commerce union Usdaw mentioned three quarters of store employees confronted abuse at work.
Lib Dem Home Affairs spokesman Alistair Carmichael mentioned: “As unsolved shoplifting soars throughout the nation, organised felony gangs are being let off the hook whereas shopkeepers are left susceptible. Yet once more, this Conservative authorities is completely failing to deal with a rising crime epidemic.”
He said the Government has “decimated” community policing and said: “We already know what works to stop crime – it’s not task forces and gimmicks, it’s putting police back on the beat and ensuring that crimes are properly investigated. If the Conservative party was serious about stopping shoplifting, they would give up the gimmicks and invest in frontline policing instead.”
The Mirror is campaigning for the law to be changed to protect shop workers. We want police to investigate all shoplifting incidents, reversing Tory laws which downgraded the theft of goods worth less than £200 to a minor offence.
We are also calling on the Government to restore the number of Police Community Support Officers so they can patrol our high streets. The number of PCSOs has fallen from 16,814 in 2009 to 8,263.
Ministers are also urged to address the underlying causes of shoplifting by tackling the cost of living crisis and providing more support for people with addiction and poor mental health.
