Stephen Morgan MP has welcomed the Government “calling time on the free for all” on shop theft, as the Prime Minister sets out tougher action to protect the retail staff who keep Britain’s high streets running.
In recent years, Portsmouth’s shopworkers have experienced theft, threats and violence as part of their daily working lives. In recent days, businesses like Greggs and Morrisons have exposed the scale of the problem, one that the Government is determined to end, standing squarely behind working people.
Usdaw, the union which supports shop workers, stated that their latest survey of nearly 9,000 retail workers found that last year, nearly 80% of shopworkers had experienced verbal abuse, with many threatened or assaulted. The survey also revealed that around four in ten shopworkers do not report incidents to the police, including 12% who say they were assaulted, underlining the scale of the problem and the significant work still needed to ensure workers feel confident reporting crimes.
Through the Crime and Policing Bill, the Government is taking decisive action to crack down on retail crime, including ending the effective immunity for shoplifting under £200 and creating a new offence of assaulting a retail worker, giving shop staff the same protections as emergency workers. The Bill is expected to conclude its final stages of passage through Parliament this week.
Mr Morgan has welcomed the early signs of progress, with charges for shop theft up nearly 17%, but has emphasised that the scale of shop theft and abuse remains unacceptable in Portsmouth’s communities.
The city MP is also backing police forces with new, cutting edge technology to help them tackle retail crime more effectively. In parts of the country, police and retailers are already sharing CCTV footage in real time, allowing officers to identify prolific offenders faster, disrupt organised gangs and build stronger cases by removing delays in gathering evidence.
Ministers are now looking at how this successful approach can be expanded nationwide, ensuring communities across the country benefit from quicker justice and greater protection for shopworkers.
This builds on a consultation the Government launched last year on the police’s use of facial recognition and biometrics, paving the way for new laws so all police forces can use this new technology with greater confidence and more often to catch criminals. This work is supported by the government’s pledge to restore neighbourhood policing, with thousands more officers already in local communities.
Commenting, Stephen Morgan, MP for Portsmouth South, said:
“The working people that keep our city’s high streets thriving are too often abused or assaulted by those who think they cheat the system.
“By reforming police forces across the country, the Government will free up time and money to focus more on street policing, neighbourhood policing, and cracking down on anti-social behaviour.
“Our area already has an extra 65 dedicated neighbourhood police officers on the streets, with even more to come, thanks to actions from this Government.
“I will continue to call for firm action, backed by closer working between the police and retailers, will deliver the lasting change shop workers deserve”.
The Government is also investing £5 million in OPAL, a specialist policing intelligence unit, to supercharge intelligence led policing, identify the most harmful offenders and disrupt the organised gangs targeting shops.
Ministers are working hand in hand with police and the retail sector through the Retail Crime Forum – chaired by the Minister for Crime and Policing, Sarah Jones – to drive practical, sustained change and ensure enforcement keeps pace with the scale of the problem.
