Shoplifting has surged by 25 per cent in a year with knife and gun crimes, robberies and car thefts also up, new official figures revealed today.
There were 365,164 shoplifting cases recorded by police over the 12 months ending June 2023, as well as 50,833 knife offences (up 3%), 77,337 robberies (up 11%) and 400,861 car crimes (up 6%).
Overall, police recorded crime in England and Wales was 4% higher than the previous year with 6.7million crimes recorded compared with 6.5million in the year ending June 2022, according to the Office of National Statistics.
However, the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) found overall crime decreased by 10%, continuing a downward trend seen since the mid-1990s. This was largely down to a 28% drop in criminal damage and a 13% reduction in fraud.
The survey asks households directly about their experiences of crime and is generally seen as more accurate in identifying long-term trends because it is unaffected by changes in reporting rates or police activity.
The dramatic rise in shoplifting offences will come as no surprise to retailers, who have repeatedly warned of the threat posed to their staff by violent offenders and called for the police to take the issue more seriously.