Crime survey shows rise in violence against shop staff

The total losses from retail crime fell to £1 billion for last year – down from £1.7 billion in 2002 – but acts of aggression against shop staff has sky-rocketed, according to the latest Retail Crime Survey.

According to the British Retail Consortium's (BRC) 11th annual report, the full impact of crime and crime prevention amounted to £1.96 billion in 2003, equating to a cost of approximately £79 per household. The total cost of crime to retail sector showed a 13% fall costing retailers £1.96 billion in 2003 compared to £2.25 billion in 2002.

However, the survey showed that violence against staff rose by 17% with verbal abuse of staff more than doubling by 109% and threats to staff soaring by 161%.

Kevin Hawkins, BRC Director General, said: "The visible cost of crime showed a considerable and welcome fall.

"However, the hidden cost of crime - the emotional and business viability impact of violence towards staff - has shown a serious and worrying rise. Retail crime is not victimless. Reducing these figures and the terrible unseen cost of this type of crime is a priority for the industry.

"The way forward is to ensure the government and police take retail crime seriously and for the industry to continue play a substantial role in a wide range of initiatives to fight crime and make our communities safer and better places."

The BRC study found that the crime fall was brought about by retailers increasing the amount spent on crime prevention to £960 million, a rise of 78% from 2002, "the largest ever annual investment".

The shopworker's union, Usdaw, said it had long been concerned that staff do go to work "in fear of being abused, threatened or attacked".

John Hannett, Usdaw General Secretary, said: “The scale of the problem is astonishing and with over 10% of the UK’s workforce being employed in retail, this issue affects a significant number of people.

"I know that many Usdaw members move heaven and earth to deliver a good service, but they are doing so in an increasingly hostile and dangerous environment. No-one should go to work in fear of being a victim of abuse or violence.”

The Tories seized on the BRC report as further evidence of the government's failure to tackle crime.

Shadow Home Secretary David Davies said: "Labour must end its obsession with gimmicks and headlines and instead start allowing the police to concentrate on fighting crime instead of filling in forms."

He added: "These statistics show retail crime is not a victimless crime and so should be included in the government's crime statistics. The government should note that the fall in losses caused by retail crime is due to the efforts of the retailers themselves."

(gmcg/mb)