Two years ago, the Conservative government brought in new and tougher penalties for those who assault shop staff. I supported the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act which brought in these new stiffer penalties.
Figures had shown that in 2021, 35,000 incidents of violence had taken place, with over 16,000 involving a weapon. In addition 89% of shop staff had faced abuse and more than a third of customers had witnessed abuse of violence against shopworkers.
After the new law came in, the National Federation of Retail Newsagents national president Narinder Randhawa said: “The important thing now is that the police and the Crown Prosecution Service work together to ensure this new law is an effective deterrent and not just a piece of paper. It’s essential that retailers report all incidents to highlight the scale of the problem, and the police response has to improve if retail crime is to be tackled head on.”
He was, of course, correct. It is unacceptable that suffering abuse and violence should be tolerated. Shop staff are there to serve us all, and we all need to play a role in protecting them.
That is why throughout my term in office as your Police and Crime Commissioner I have taken such a close interest in the fight against shoplifting and other retail theft. I have provided funding for the expansion of the “DISC” system which allows shop managers, local authorities and police to share data on offenders and take action to stop them targeting local shops. I have put funds into new CCTV to monitor shopping streets across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. I have myself gone on patrol in retail areas to see first hand how police tackle retail crimes.
And just the other day I was in Coalville to talk to the manager of the Belvoir Shopping Centre and council staff about some exciting plans that they have to protect their shops and town.
But I believe that it is now time to go further.
I want to see a specific offence of assault on retail workers. This will give our shop staff the level of protection that they need.
The problem with the 2022 Act is that it does not differentiate between retail staff and others serving the public. Times have changed and it is now clear that more specific action is needed.
As a standalone offence, the police will be able to record assaults that happen in a retail environment. At the moment, police forces have no way of measuring how many assaults occur in retail because the place is not recorded, only the assault.
To determine how many assaults on shop staff take place across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland someone would have to manually go through each report and make a note of the numbers. The cost of that would be prohibitive given all the other tasks police staff are called upon to complete.
But if police can’t measure something, the chances are that they won’t put resources into it. Once the scale of the issue can be easily measured and assessed, I am confident that the Leicestershire Police will put in place the resources needed to crack down hard on this problem.
Just as important, introducing a stand-alone offence sends the strongest message to our many shopworkers that these crimes against them will not be tolerated. They will know that the police, their Police and Crime Commissioner and their government know about the problem, care about the problem and are doing something practical to solve the problem.
Photo: Rupert Matthews in Market Harborough High Street