Retailers sceptical of Braverman pledge to ‘investigate every theft’

Suella Braverman said yesterday it was “completely unacceptable” that criminals are often “effectively free to break certain laws”.

The announcement came amid increasing concerns that police are no longer following up on many ‘low-level’ crimes such as burglary and shop theft.

In the year to March, only 4% of theft offences resulted in someone being charged.

In a letter sent to police yesterday, Braverman said: “All too often, the public feel that information they provide to the police about a crime is not acted on.

“This must stop as it undermines public confidence and misses opportunities to solve crimes and bring perpetrators to justice.

“The public expect more than just being given a crime number when they report a crime. They want to see police taking visible action in communities and thoroughly investigating crime.”

She said the police had agreed to update their procedures based on the commitment.

Shop theft is one area where a better police response is being promised.

Braverman said: “Shoplifting is often wrongly considered to be a minor crime, but if it is left unchecked it escalates, shop workers often get assaulted, there are significant financial losses and disorder escalates.

“We are sure you will agree on the importance of officers following every reasonable line of enquiry in cases of shoplifting, including using CCTV to identify suspects, and using clear images of any unknown suspects of crime to search the Police National Database for matches using facial recognition when appropriate.

“Best practice comes where retailers and police work together through local Business Crime Reduction Partnerships to share information and target the most prolific offenders.”

The pledges also include more “visible policing” on the streets and a commitment to tackle anti-social behaviour.

But some retailers remain sceptical.

Sue Nithyanandan, of Costcutter Epsom in Surrey, told TalkingRetail.com: “It’s a great attention-grabbing headline, but what resources have the police being handed to do so?

“Speaking to the officers on the ground, they are under-resourced and have put shoplifting lower down their priorities. I have been on a neighbourhood police panel and anti-social behaviour and theft of motor vehicles and burglary were what the community wanted as priorities.”

Derbyshire-based One Stop retailer Dee Sedani said: “It’s always the same – the government say you’ve got the resources but the police say we haven’t and the same circle goes around and around. This is just a PR exercise.”

Vince Malone, owner of Premier Tenby Stores & Post Office in Pembrokeshire, said: “I would be more interested in what the police believe they can achieve, rather than the headline soundbite that’s been put out.

“This is now becoming such a big issue. The discussions we are having with our team here are about personal safety for themselves, customers and all around. However, if we were in the middle of one of these incidents, I’m not sure how we would respond.

“The police need more resources and intervention at an early stage to look at the causes of this behaviour – that doesn’t make a good headline, though.”

Samantha Coldbeck, of Wharfedale Premier in Hull, said: “I currently have three separate incidents of shop theft waiting for the police to follow up on.

“We report shop thefts online, burn our CCTV off and I also write my own statements.

“Something has changed within police forces who now view shop theft a low-level crime.

“I’m not sure the government are going to achieve anything with this latest soundbite, but I will remain optimistic that something has to change fast.”