Retailers have called on the government to introduce a standalone offence of ‘assaulting, threatening or abusing a retail worker’ following figures from the latest British Retail Consortium (BRC) crime survey.
Incidents of violence and abuse against retail workers, including optical retailers, increased to 1,300 per day in 2022/23 from 870 per day the year before, according the survey.
The cost of theft rose from £953m to £1.8bn, despite retailers investing £1.2bn on crime prevention measures including CCTV, increased security personnel and body worn cameras, up from £722m the previous year.
BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said ‘Criminals are being given a free pass to steal goods and to abuse and assault retail colleagues. No one should have to go to work fearing for their safety. It is vital that the government takes action.’
Some 60% of respondents described the police response to incidents, including racial abuse, sexual harassment, physical assault and threats with weapons, as ‘poor' or ‘very poor’.
A standalone offence was said to send a clear message to criminals that this behaviour would not be tolerated and provide police with data to understand the scale of the problem. It would also provide the same protection for workers as in Scotland where a similar offence was introduced in 2021.