The committee supported schemes like Project Pegasus – a partnership between retailers and police to tackle organised shoplifting gangs – but said there needs to be a strategy to deal with local prolific offenders too.
“The scale of the shop theft problem within England and Wales is totally unacceptable and action, like that under way in the Pegasus scheme, is vital and urgent,” said Lord Foster of Bath, chair of the committee.
The committee found there is a widespread perception that shop theft is not treated seriously by the police which “risks undermining confidence in the police and wider criminal justice system”.
It said shoplifting cost the retail sector nearly £2bn last year – which resulted in price rises impacting individuals, families and communities.
“We acknowledge the pressures on police resources, but we believe that the urgency of the situation relating to shop theft requires immediate action within existing police staffing levels,” the letter said.
It has made a series of recommendations to the government which it says would “help tackle the problem and keep the public and our economy safer”.
These include:
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Phasing out the use of the outdated term “shoplifting” which serves to trivialise the severity of the offence
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Developing improved reporting systems to enable retailers to report crime to the police quickly and easily
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Increasing funding to community-based reoffending and rehabilitation initiatives
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Introducing regulations to make it more difficult to sell stolen goods on online marketplaces anonymously
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Introducing regulations and best practice guidance for the use of facial recognition technology by private companies
Shop owner Tracey Robertson believes the recommendations do not go far enough and wants to see much tougher sentences for repeat offenders.
Professor of criminology Emmeline Taylor, who gave evidence to the inquiry, said the committee recommendations are “far-reaching” and understand the multiple root causes of shop theft.
“If adopted by the police, the industry and the government it will certainly do a huge amount to begin to turn the tide on the tsunami of shop theft that has impacted the retail sector across the UK.”