UK businesses and police to share data to stop shoplifters
Thousands of shoppers and businesses will see an increased police presence, along with stronger prevention and enforcement actions by police and councils, to support safer high streets this summer. This will include a new initiative to share data between police and businesses to stop prolific shoplifters.
This forms part of a Summer blitz which will help quell rising crime, the Home Office said in a statement on Friday (4 July).
Over recent years, street crime has skyrocketed, with theft from the person more than doubling between December 2022 and December 2024, and there have been record levels of shop theft, up by more than 60%, with offenders increasingly using violence and abuse against shopworkers.
To counteract this, the Home Office said it aims to have contactable officers in every community, increased peak time patrols in town centres and anti-social behaviour leads in every force. This will be introduced alongside bespoke local action plans with police, businesses and local councils.
The Home Office, alongside police, retailers and industry are also launching a new Tackling Retail Crime Together Strategy, which will use shared data to assist in disrupting not just organised criminal gangs, but all types of perpetrators, including prolific offenders who are stealing to fund an addiction and ‘opportunist’ offenders.
“High streets and town centres are the very heart of our communities. Residents and businesses have the right to feel safe in their towns. But the last government left a surge in shop theft, street crime and anti-social behaviour, which has left too many town centres feeling abandoned,” said Home Secretary Yvette Cooper.
“It’s time to turn this round, that’s why I have called on police forces and councils alike to work together to deliver a summer blitz on town centre crime to send a clear message to those people who bring misery to our towns that their crimes will no longer go unpunished,” she said.
“The fact that 500 towns have signed up shows the strength of feeling on this issue.”
