Decline In Retail Crime But Not In Impact

The total losses from retail crime in the UK fell by £700m to £1bn in 2003, down from £1.7bn in 2002, but retail employees are at an increased risk of violence. The British Retail Consortium's eleventh annual Retail Crime Survey, sponsored by ADT, shows a rise of 78 per cent in the amount retailers spent on crime prevention to £960m, the largest ever annual investment, bringing the total spent by UK retailers on crime prevention over the past three years to £2.11bn.

However, the survey shows violence against staff rose by 17 per cent, with verbal abuse more than doubling, up by 109 per cent, and threats to staff soaring by 161 per cent. Kevin Hawkins, BRC director general, said: "The visible cost of crime showed a considerable and welcome fall. These figures show how determined retailers have been to tackle this serious problem. Massive investment of resources over recent years has led to significant success, as has their support for initiatives such as Action Against Business Crime.

"However, the hidden cost of crime - the emotional and business viability impact of violence towards staff - has shown a serious and worrying rise. Retail crime is not victimless. Reducing these figures and the terrible unseen cost of this type of crime is a priority for the industry. "The way forward is to ensure the Government and police take retail crime seriously and for the industry to continue play a substantial role in a wide range of initiatives to fight crime and make our communities safer and better places."