The policing minister has said she wants forces “to do far more” to tackle shoplifting after figures obtained by Sky News showed fewer than one in four incidents were attended to by officers in 2023.
Dame Diana Johnson blamed declining officer numbers under the previous government but also said she wanted to “see shop theft treated seriously…and the police need to play their part”.
She was reacting to figures obtained by Sky News under the Freedom of Information Act that reveal officers turning up to fewer and fewer incidents over the last decade.
Just 22% of shoplifting incidents were attended to immediately by police in 2023, based on responses from 22 of England’s 39 police forces.
In 2016, data from 17 forces gave an attendance rate of 52% – more than twice the 2023 figure.
While in 2013, figures from 11 forces suggested an attendance rate of 72% – more than three times higher than a decade later.
Looking at just the 2013 and 2016 data sets, a clear trend of declining attendance rates is seen.
Some of the police forces who responded to our request said this was because of modern more remote investigation techniques.
Others said that while officers may not always attend crime scenes immediately, they will often follow up at a later date if there are credible lines of enquiry.
However, store owners and workers have complained that a lack of police attention towards retail crime has created an atmosphere where criminals believe they can steal with few repercussions.
Earlier this year the British Retail Consortium said violence and abuse against retail workers had risen substantially to 1,300 per day in 2022/23.
Sky News has seen CCTV showing one shop worker in south London being threatened by three people on Christmas Day 2023.
The thieves steal scratch cards and spirits and attempt to assault a cashier, who fights back with what appears to be a spanner.
Another London store owner said he used to keep a baseball bat and…
