Shoplifting offences in Lancashire rise by more than a tenth, new figures show

A retailer's association has issued a stark warning about the blight of shoplifting on UK high streets.

New figures from the Home Office show Lancashire Constabulary recorded 10,959 shoplifting offences in the year to September – a 16% increase from the 9,464 logged a year earlier.

A total of 493,000 offences were logged by forces across England and Wales in the year to September, up 23% from 402,000 in the previous 12 months.

The British Retail Consortium has warned shoplifting is “spiralling out of control”. A survey by the group suggests there were more than 2,000 incidents a day, with staff facing assault, being threatened with weapons, and racial and sexual abuse.

In Lancashire, 20% of shoplifting offences led to a charge or summons over this period, with no suspect identified in 48% of cases.

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A further 21% were closed due to evidential difficulties, and 3% have not yet been given an outcome.

Operation Vulture is Lancashire Constabulary’s response to shoplifting across the county, backed by Police and Crime Commissioner Clive Grunshaw and the Lancashire Partnership Against Crime (LANPAC).

The operation sees dedicated officers undertaking hotspot patrolling, increasing their visibility in targeted areas and creating strong partnerships with retailers across the county to better share intelligence, get a deeper understanding of retail crime and identify more offenders.

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Lancashire Police and Crime Commissioner Clive Grunshaw said: "As Lancashire's Police and Crime Commissioner, I will continue to work alongside the Chief Constable to establish a more proactive approach to shoplifting, with better protection for shop workers and improved relationships between retailers and the police.”

Major retailers have been raising concerns for months about the increased cost of theft, while the Government has vowed to tackle low-level shoplifting and make assaulting a shop worker a specific criminal offence.

The move to create the separate offence follows a long-running campaign by business owners and Conservative backbencher Matt Vickers.

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Retailers said they hope the measures set out in the first King’s Speech after the general election will make it easier for police to investigate and prosecute criminals.

Meanwhile, policing minister Dame Diana Johnson said the figures “remain unacceptably high” and the crimes were “blighting town centres and high streets right across the country”.

“For far too long these crimes have been written off as ‘low-level’ and not treated with the urgency or seriousness they deserve,” she said.

Dame Johnson insisted the Government was “determined to turn the page” with its plan to boost police numbers and give officers the powers they need to “crack down on the criminals who cause misery in our communities”.

Across England and Wales, police recorded 1.8 million theft offences in the year to September.

The country saw a 22% rise in crimes involving theft from a person (146,000), including 743 such crimes in Lancashire.