Government tackles problem of repeat offenders

Malthouse told the ACS Crime Seminar 2021 that crime in the convenience sector is “very important” to the government.

He told delegates the government has done quite a lot of work in the past year to focus on these “corrosive” offenders, many of whom are driven by addiction, either to drugs or alcohol.

Malthouse highlighted the work the government is doing to deal with the problems caused by alcohol and drugs, including rolling out sobriety tags – which perform around-the-clock monitoring of an offender’s sweat to determine whether alcohol has been consumed – across England.

In addition, he said the drop in the reporting of crime was “alarming”. He told the seminar: “It is absolutely vital that we get everybody in this area to recognise that reporting is so key and so important so we can see the real picture and the police are able to justify the diversion of resources towards this area.”

Malthouse also recognised the investment retailers have put into crime prevention initiatives, about £174m, which is “enormously welcome”.

He added: “We know how important it is to you that your staff are safe and well and they don’t have to put up with people repeatedly victimising them or being violent and abusive towards them in a completely unacceptable way. Lots done, but still lots more to do.”

The full 2021 Crime Report is available to download at http://bit.ly/ACS2021CrimeReport