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Daily Mail
January 21 2014
Shoplifting has rocketed to the highest level in almost a decade but only one in 10 crimes are being reported as stores lose faith in police, new figures show.
Retailers say they have been hit by a dramatic spike in robberies and cyber-attacks by organised criminal gangs systematically ransacking stores for designer goods.
According to the British Retail Consortium, store robberies have leapt by 48 per cent and eight in 10 stores have also seen a rise in online fraud in the last year.
Its annual crime survey found that there were 631,391 incidents of customer theft in 2012-13 – the highest level recorded in the survey for nine years.
Yet only nine per cent of these crimes were reported to police, suggesting a lack of confidence in forces.
The 30 companies surveyed, who represent half of the sector by turnover, also estimated that around a quarter of thefts were never detected.
The report has blasted police for not treating shoplifting seriously.
It concluded: ‘This is an indication of the lack of confidence businesses have in the police response to customer theft and the perception that it is often perceived as a ‘victimless’ crime and as a result not taken seriously.’
Experts say that a new breed of brand-obsessed shoplifter targeting luxury items is having a knock-on effect of rising prices for ordinary families.
The figures show that the average value per theft has leapt by 62 per cent to £177 in the last year as gangs target a wide range of high value goods, rather than focusing on one particular item as previously.
The items most often looted included expensive electrical goods, designer clothing, handbags and power tools.
While the evidence shows the raids are becoming more sophisticated and well planned.
The BRC estimated there were 2.7million offences in 2012-13 against retailers, costing £511million.
Department stores suffered the highest value thefts, at around six times the cost of the average supermarket raid.
