Talking Retail Grocery and product news for independent retailers
First, the ACS Crime Report 2021 revealed some shocking figures. Notwithstanding the 1.1 million incidents of shop theft recorded over the past year, the report also details some 40,000 incidents of violence against people working in convenience stores, more than a quarter of which involved a weapon such as a knife, hammer, axe or syringe.
As ACS boss James Lowman said on launching the report, these are not just big numbers. Each one is a crime that has a personal impact on retailers and their staff. For so many people working in local shops to have suffered this kind of abuse, just for doing their jobs, is shocking and must not be allowed to be normalised.
The issue was also thrown into sharp focus by the news from Hull where store owner Vijitha Jeyathevan fought off two men armed with a knife and shotgun who had reportedly tried to rob her convenience store and had beaten her brother, Thaya Karan, about the head in an attempt to get him to hand over cash from the till. Shocking CCTV images posted online clearly show the weapons being brandished and Karan being hit with the butt of the gun before Jeyathevan intervenes.
In the face of such incidents – and the continued hard facts showing the ever-increasing scale of the problem – the UK government’s stubborn and repeated refusal to contemplate a Protection of Shopworkers Bill for England and Wales in line with the one now in force in Scotland undoubtedly flies in the face of common sense.
The government’s main argument seems to be that retail workers do not need added protection, because there are already legal provisions that say if people are assaulted while carrying out “public duties”, judges may take this into account when sentencing. But when asked in parliament how many times this aggravating factor has been taken into account in the case of retail staff being assaulted, it was unable to provide an answer. Clearly something more substantial is required.
With the example of Scotland providing a model of how things could work, we need to keep up the pressure on politicians. But with the delayed elections for the Police and Crime Commissioners now coming up next month (May), it is perhaps time for a change in tactics. According to the ACS, just 18 of the current 42 PCCs include any reference to business crime in their Police and Crime Plan.
Why not email yours before the election and let them know in no uncertain terms: it’s time to take retail crime seriously.
David Shrimpton is editor of Independent Retail News
