‘We should not have to come to work with fear for our lives’: The Co-op report 35% increase in criminal activity in stores
Local store giant, the Co-op has revealed that they've experienced a massive increase in the number of criminal incidents in their stores year on year, with one of their locations being targeted three times in a single day. Paul Gerrard is the Campaigns and Public Affairs Director at Co-op and warns more needs to be done.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 "We should not come to work with fear for our lives or for our safety. This is not what
00:08 we wake up for in the morning to earn our living. Is this how we get treated as? Physical
00:15 abuse, verbal abuse, racist abuse. We get spat on our face."
00:22 The local store retailer has reported a 35% increase year-on-year in the number of criminal
00:28 incidents across their stores, with more than 175,000 incidents recorded in the first six
00:34 months of this year alone. They say the spike is caused by repeat and prolific offenders
00:39 and, in some cases, organised criminal gangs.
00:43 "We've reported that large increase and I think it's worth saying that what's at the
00:47 heart of that increase isn't people who are stealing because they're struggling to make
00:51 ends meet. This isn't a cost of living issue per se. What this is is about organised criminal
00:55 gangs or those with substance abuse issues targeting co-op stores and, as I said before,
01:02 most other food retailers to steal hundreds of pounds worth of products which they will
01:07 then resell in pubs and clubs and on street corners and in markets. So this is absolutely
01:14 about organised crime and about those with substance abuse issues."
01:18 The retailer is concerned the increase will cause long-lasting damage to communities and
01:23 drive workers away from the sector.
01:25 "The experience on a daily basis, the shoplifting, robbery, it's an everyday thing that's happening
01:32 in shops and not just the place where I work, across every shop that we all are experiencing.
01:39 Shoplifting has always been there in retail. I've been in retail for the last 30 years
01:43 approximately and we've always experienced this. But it's never been this big. This is
01:48 what our frustration is. This is what we want protection, we want safety, not just for ourselves,
01:55 for our whole community."
01:56 They're now calling on police forces and police and crime commissioners to do more to tackle
02:01 the problem.
02:02 "We did a freedom of information request from the police and what that data tells us, and
02:07 that data is the police's data, it's not our data, it tells us that when there are serious
02:12 incidents reported to the police by co-op colleagues, the police nationally do not attend
02:18 in 71% of cases. The reason this isn't being done isn't because it's impossible, it's not.
02:23 This is about a will and a commitment and I think what we need from the police and the
02:27 police and crime commissioners is a real commitment to working with businesses to tackle persistent
02:32 and prolific offending in shops. Because if they don't, then what we'll see is people
02:37 not wanting to join retail. It'll also mean that shops may become unviable."
02:42 In response, Chief Constable Amanda Blakeman of the MPCC said police forces took any incidents
02:47 of violence incredibly seriously and would prioritise their response where there is a
02:52 risk to individuals.
02:53 For these types of offences, police focus on targeting prolific offenders, organised
02:58 crime networks and ensuring effective prevention measures are in place.
03:02 [BLANK_AUDIO]