Crime Reduction - Helping to Reduce Crime in Your Area

Retail Strategy Group Crime Report

Retail crime is of social and economic importance and can be directly linked to increases in drug and alcohol dependency. Retail Crime can take the form of verbal or physical abuse towards employees, burglary, and damage to retail premises, fraud or internal theft by employees. Many criminal acts will carry a direct financial cost but many incidents will place emotional burdens on retailers and their employees. This report looks at work in hand to reduce retail crime and offers case studies where retail crime has been successfully reduced.

Title: Driving Change
Authors: Retail Strategy Group
Number of pages: 57
Date published: April 2004

What is the Retail Strategy Group?

The Retail Strategy Group (RSG) is a joint Department for Trade & Industry (DTI) and retail industry initiative that started in late 2002. The aim of the RSG is

'For the retail industry and UK Government to work in partnership to identify the key issues that impact on competitiveness and productivity of the UK retail sector and together take action to maximise opportunities for, and minimise threats to, UK retailers.'

Working groups were set up to focus on five key issues: cost of compliance, crime, property, productivity and planning.

Report Summary

There is a wealth of information and good practice on crime reduction already available in the UK retail environment. The report states that retailers and government need to work in partnership to develop more effective mechanisms to disseminate knowledge, and learn from the experience of others.

The RSG is particulary concerned about possible increases in the displacement of crime from large retailers or shopping centres to small or community-based shops. They recommend the dissemination of knowledge, good practice and effective solutions to small retailers through business support networks to encourage retailers to take effective measures.

The report links drug and alcohol dependency with retail crime. By working with local agencies and community organisations retailers can help educate offenders on the effects of crime.  This can offer opportunities to persistent offenders who accept help through rehabilitation and other support programmes.

The report concludes that retail crime is of social and economic importance. Retailers, police and local agencies working in partnership can successfully address the causes and symptoms of crime.

The report also gives analysis of the retail sector in a number of non-crime  ways. It looks at the value of retail crime, productivity, regulatory burdens, planning and development.

Retail crime statistics

• Provisional figures from a forthcoming Home Office report show 78% of retailers had suffered crime in the previous 12 months, 43% had suffered theft by customers and 23% experience some form of violent crime (including the threats of violence).

• The British Retail Consortium (BRC) estimated the direct cost to the sector in 2002 to be in excess of £1.7billion with a further £240 million spent on crime prevention measures. This is equivalent to an increase in a household shopping bill of around £100 a year.

• The LloydsTSB 2003 Business Start-up Survey estimated that 74% of small retail businesses had experienced some form of crime in the previous 12 months. Two thirds of small retailers involved in the survey estimated their costs to be in excess of £1000.

• Small-scale studies such as Ekblom and Simon (1988), Hibberd and Shaplan (1993) and Hopkins and Tilley (1998) PDF 110Kb have shown that those who run small shops face particular problems relating to violence and abusive customers and in the case of Asian shopkeepers, racial abuse.

• Hopkins and Tilley's study of North London found 30% of small and medium size businesses had considered ceasing trading as a result of crime and abuse.

• Violence against retail workers is of particular concern. The Home Office report "Violence at Work: Findings from the 2002/2003 British Crime Survey" PDF 225Kb estimated both the risk of violence to people in sales occupations (including retail assistants and cashiers) and the risk of threatening behaviour was higher than average for all professions, whilst the risk of assault was below average.

• The Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW) survey "Voices from the Front Line" showed that 48% of their representatives were aware of staff who had been forced to either give up working or changed jobs as a result of stress and pressure caused by violence and abuse.

What more can be done to reduce retail crime?

The RSG report states that although progress has been made in developing initiatives and partnerships at local, regional and national levels, there is still much to be done to reduce retail crime and the underlying social causes. While the range of stakeholders at all levels are showing commitment to tackling the issues further, action is needed to co-ordinate the variety of activity, spread good practice and share successes and lessons. To improve the availability and quality of data to help inform policy decisions, RSG has identified the following strategic actions to move this agenda forward:

• Retail Crime Reduction Strategy
  The Home Office will consider how key stakeholder (ie police, Whitehall Departments, town centre managers, probation services etc) can be engaged in developing the national Retail Crime Reduction Strategy. This includes assessing the potential of a National Steering Group

• Advisory and Information Services for Small and Medium Retailers
  The Association of Convenience Stores will lead the sector's contribution to a comprehensive advice and information strategy for small retailers. This will include the co-ordination and dissemination of good practice.

• Helping ex-offenders
  The British Retail Consortium will work with the Home Office to consider options for increasing employment opportunities for ex-offenders.

• ICT Standards
  The BRC will work to develop effective links between processes and data collection to allow large numbers of retailers to exchange intelligence on known offenders and the incidence of retail crime.

• Improved Data
  The Co-op will lead a working group to examine police response times and explore options for improvement. ACPO and Home Office will be partners on the group.

• Reduce Internal Crime
  To help detect and combat internal crime, retailers must disseminate good practice

Case studies

The report also includes a number of short case studies. Full details can be found in the full report, but briefly these cover:

• Self-help Security: The Santangeli's family-owned delicatessen and convenience store is a target for local thieves and those intent on anti-social behaviour resulting in theft, abuse, intimidation, violence and assaults on staff.

• Working in Partnership: 1000 pupils brought in extra business to a Spar retailer but also brought a great deal of petty crime, vandalism and anti-social behaviour, deterring other customers.

• Anti Social Behaviour: Bells Stores Hartlepool was faced with losing a valued member of staff through continual customer abuse.

• Second Chances: The Liverpool Intensive Supervision and Monitoring [LISM] project is an attempt to manage drug offenders and prevent their relapse into drug abuse and crime.

• We can see you: Changes have been made to Tesco's layout and display design aimed at undermining a thief's sense of safe anonymity and ability to escape.

• Staff Theft: The DTI funded the REMS –ST project to develop an integrated management decision-making process to help retailers focus on reducing the cost of staff theft.

Getting a copy

Download Driving Change from the DTI website PDF 1.8Mb (large file)

Last update: Wednesday, July 30, 2008