Shoplifting Rises
Recently sweets, vapes and all sorts of things have been taken. This year shoplifting has increased by 20% and this a big change. Lots of shops in the UK have been targeted for shoplifting. This could be many reasons for this such as the cost-of-living crises or the vape ban for under 18-year-olds.
A shop keeper known as Amit was attacked by a 17-year-old girl outside of the shop he was looking after. He said, “I don’t want to die at work. When your staff are threatened with a hammer, when someone threatens to kill you who lives near your shop and the police don’t take it seriously, what’s the point?”.
Amit says “the police don’t take it seriously,” and this a is a big complaint from shop keepers as they say that the police are not helping shop keepers but recently in south London a team of police officers are trying to reduce shoplifting in the area. Shoplifting also causes the shops to close if thefts occur frequently since they will have to spend money on restocking and eventually go bankrupt.
“In Coventry a Greggs was forced to close since people would shoplift there so often” said ex shop owner Jas.
To prevent shop lifting, some shops have added stations to scan your receipt before leaving which is a good idea and could be used later in the future for other places. People also tend to open food packets in the toilet, so some shops have sensors to prevent this from happening. This prevents people from shoplifting from big brand shops, but this doesn’t help little shops like Amit’s since they don’t have enough money to install these modifications so what are they going to do?
The government have promised 13,000 police officers to reduce shoplifting from happening in the UK by 2029 but that’s still a long way away. “You can deal with someone for a £50 shoplift, but when you’re dealing with them for 20 shopliftings for £1,000, ultimately the courts see it a little bit differently, and that sentencing changes,” explains a police officer showing how they want to help. But shop owners are still hesitant
But what is the reason for shoplifting? Some people do it for fun and peer pressure whilst others do it because they have no choice and for some, they find it addictive, but it is a problem.
Reported by Armaan K and Oleksii S