Retail leaders praise PSNI on efforts against shop thefts
More action has been called for against shop thieves following a 20% increase in the number of reported shop lifting incidents last year.
In what has been described as a crime wave against retailers, last year the number of shop lifting incidents reported to police rose from 7500 to almost 9000, seemingly reflecting the rest of the UK.
Director of the Northern Ireland Retail Consortium, Neil Johnston said that this year however, Northern Ireland appeared to be bucking the trend for retail theft.
“This year, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) recently reported another 20% increase in England, with a commensurate rise also in Scotland. The latest figures from the PSNI however, show that in the year to the end of June, reported incidents of shop thefts dropped back down to 8500 a year in Northern Ireland,” said Neil Johnston.
“The reasons why Northern Ireland seems to be bucking the trend aren’t entirely clear but I think it’s fair to assume that the hard work of the PSNI is paying dividends.
“Retailers, who are investing considerable sums on crime prevention, and the police need to keep up the good work, however. Shop lifting in Northern Ireland is still at levels markedly higher than the levels that we have seen historically.”
He said the NIRC was calling on the NI Executive and the Policing Board to acknowledge the scale of the problem in Northern Ireland and to ensure that the PSNI have adequate staff levels and other resources to enable them to continue to bear down on the scourge of shop thieves.
“NIRC is also repeating its call for the Assembly to do more to protect retail workers. Scotland and England and Wales have all made it a stand-alone criminal offence to assault a retail worker,” he added.
“The NIRC and trade union USDAW have appealed to the Justice Minister, Naomi Long, to put in place similar protections for shopworkers here in Northern Ireland.
“We are grateful that the Minister is planning to bring forward legislation to make it an offence to assault a public facing worker. This legislation can’t come soon enough for retail workers in Northern Ireland who are sadly subjected to a range of wholly unacceptable and abusive behaviour including assault on occasions.
“It would be unacceptable for Northern Ireland to be the only part of the UK where shopworkers are without better legal protections.
“NIRC hopes that all political parties in Stormont and every individual Assembly Member will get behind the passage of this legislation as a priority in the coming months.”
