SHOPLIFTING has become an epidemic, according to the boss of John Lewis which is now offering free cups of tea to entice members of the police into the stores in a bid to make potential criminals feel uncomfy.
Durham had the second highest rise in the country – 62.4 per cent – in 2022-23, behind Northumbria.
READ THE FULL STORY ON THE RELAUNCH OF DARLINGTON'S SHOPWATCH
There are numerous reasons for it. The cost-of-living crisis means that some people are so desperate they feel they have no alternative but to steal to eat. There’s also an addiction crisis, whereby drug-users steal to get their next fix.
And then there is organised crime in which gangs steal brazenly on an industrial scale. They know that even if they are caught, the police only respond to 20 per cent of incidents (according to the Co-op, which said some forces respond to less than 10 per cent); they know that even if they are convicted, they’re unlikely to go to jail because our prisons are so full that less serious convicts are being set free.
But shoplifting is serious. It is serious for the shop staff who are being threatened with weapons; it is serious for the shop-owners who see stock disappearing and the viability of their business being threatened; it is serious for the shoppers, who see prices rising to cover the crime, and more shops closing.
Deterrent is key, which is why it is positive to see Darlington’s relaunched Shopwatch scheme now being expanded.
Two further points: why do supermarkets encourage people to walk out with their goods without ever looking into the eyes of an employee, and what role has the reduction in police numbers played in the rise in shoplifting?
The Durham police commissioner, Joy Allen, writing on this very subject in last Saturday's paper, pointed out that her force is one of 15 in the country which still has fewer officers than it did in 2010 when austerity cuts began. This is one crime where more police on the beat, on the street, would act as a deterrent – will Labour promise to return police numbers to pre-austerity levels?
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