Shoplifters strike every 3.7 seconds, claims Letwin

Shadow Home Secretary Oliver Letwin has challenged government figures that crimes rates for theft are falling – claiming that a retail crime is committed in Britain every 3.7 seconds.

Mr Letwin warned that shoplifting has "rocketed" and accused the government misleading the public by publishing crime figures which are "40% too low".

This is because the British Crime Survey, which measured 12.3 million offences, does not include retail crime in its figures – even though 8.5 million incidents involving retail premises took place in 2002, Mr Letwin said.

According to research carried out by the British Retail Consortium and the Conservatives, every shop in Britain is hit by an average 30 crimes a year, meaning there is a retail crime every 3.7 seconds. The cost of retail crime is the equivalent of £90 a year for every household in the country. The bill for the average shopkeeper was £2,700 last year, the party claimed.

"These figures show how far the government has been hiding behind the inadequacies of the British Crime Survey," said Mr Letwin.

"Much more attention needs to be paid to the three measures than can have an effect on crime: the effective, intensive, abstinence based on rehabilitation for hard drug addicts; the additional 40,000 extra police to which the Conservatives are committed; and a real effort by the Home Office to promote ‘designing out' of crime through preventative measures at retail premises," he added.

(GMcG)