Police and sheriffs must get tougher on shoplifters to halt the surge in retail crime sweeping Britain’s high streets, the chief executive of Primark’s parent company has said.
Primark is battling more cases of shoplifting and assaults on staff than it has ever experienced, according to George Weston, chief executive of Associated British Foods (ABF).
He said the retailer is rolling out more CCTV, offering workers body cameras to deter criminals and increasing the number of security guards in stores in a drive to clamp down on thefts and assaults.
Mr Weston said that while there was positive work between retailers and police forces beginning to take place, he said the judicial system should take crimes more seriously in order to cut thefts.
He added: “There have been too many examples of theft not being taken as seriously as I think they should be. Those who are responsible for law and order need to help us get on top of this.”
His comments come as Police Scotland begin a pilot scheme in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire where some "minor" crimes will no longer be investigated as part of a project being piloted in the north east of Scotland.
Police Scotland said it wants to give officers more time to focus on responding to emergencies and keeping people safe from harm. An example of where no further action may be taken was a theft with no CCTV or eye-witness evidence.
More than 7,500 shoplifting incidents were reported between 2020-21 and 2022-23 in the North-east of Scotland, and official estimates suggest that more than a million shoplifting offences take place across the UK each year, costing retailers around £1billion in losses, with just 21,000 criminals prosecuted last year.
Separately on Tuesday, Dame Sharon White, chairman of John Lewis, said shoplifting cases have doubled in the last year as retail workers grapple with “abuse and attacks”.
Dame Sharon said: “Many of our incidents haven’t always been responded to by the police. And sometimes those incidents have some violent aspects.”