Shoplifting

(asked on 12th December 2023) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department made an assessment of the potential merits of including measures to tackle shoplifting in the Criminal Justice Bill.


Answered by
Chris Philp Portrait
Chris Philp
Minister of State (Home Office)
This question was answered on 20th December 2023

The Government is clear that violent and abusive behaviour towards any public-facing worker is never acceptable. We take this issue very seriously and recognise the implications on businesses as well as the victims.

The Government took a significant step and legislated to introduce a statutory aggravating factor for assault against any public facing worker via section 156 of the Police Crime Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. This ensures the public facing nature of a victim’s role will be considered an aggravating factor when it comes to sentencing for assault offences.

We keep all legislation under review. Under section 176 of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, the shoplifting of goods of a value of £200 or less is a summary offence unless the defendant, if an adult, elects to be tried in the Crown Court. Where a summary offence is committed, the case can be handled as a police-led prosecution. There is a misconception this is used as a threshold by police forces, so that if the value of goods stolen is under £200, police will not respond. No police force has such a policy and this summary offence for shoplifting does not prevent police taking action against shoplifters.

The Government has recently made significant steps to improve the police response to retail crime. In October, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) published the Retail Crime Action Plan. Through this Plan, all police forces in England and Wales have committed to prioritise police attendance at the scene where violence has been used towards shop staff, where an offender has been detained by store security, and where evidence needs to be secured and can only be done by police personnel. Additionally, where CCTV or other digital images are secured, police will run this through the Police National Database to further aid efforts to identify prolific offenders or potentially dangerous individuals. This builds on the commitment made by the NPCC in August 2023 that all police forces across England and Wales will follow up all crimes where there is actionable evidence and the chance of identifying an offender, including shoplifting.

Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) are a valued part of the police workforce, as a key liaison point to help resolve local issues and foster good community relations.

Decisions around recruitment and retention of PCSOs and the powers and duties they have are for Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners.

Reticulating Splines