In the fight against an “epidemic” of shoplifting in Britain, major retailers want to fund police work. The supermarket chains Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose as well as the department store operator John Lewis are among the ten companies that have provided the investigators with a total of 600,000 British pounds (700,000 euros). In return, the authority should compare recordings of thieves on surveillance cameras with their databases and also use facial recognition software.
Shoplifting in Great Britain has more than doubled in the past six years to eight million in 2022, according to estimates from trade association BRC. The annual damage amounts to around one billion British pounds. The reasons given are the significantly increased cost of living and imitators via viral videos on Tiktok. Perpetrators are often young people.
The companies accuse the police of not taking shoplifting seriously enough. Of 339,206 cases reported between April 2022 and March 2023, fewer than 50,000 were charged. In just over half of the cases, the investigations were stopped without the perpetrators being identified. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called the development unacceptable.
Shoplifting has also increased significantly in Germany recently. But this is probably due to the ended Corona rules, said the German Trade Association (HDE). During the lockdowns and in times of less customer traffic, shoplifters would have had a much harder time. “However, there is no evidence for the sometimes suspected connection between rising prices due to inflation and an increase in shoplifting.” In Germany, too, many crimes are not even reported because there are often no major consequences for shoplifters.
The deputy chairman of the police union, Alexander Poitz, said that given the clearance rate of 89 percent, one could not speak of an “epidemic of shoplifting” in Germany. “Nevertheless, this development should be counteracted, especially with preventive measures, such as electronic security technology by shop owners.”