Shoplifters could face mandatory jail sentences for recurring offences as police and retailers crack down on crime rates.
While shoplifting, theft, burglary and common assault do not always lead to prison sentences, ministers are to bring in harsher punishments for several offences in a crime and justice bill that will see judges imposing custody, The Times reported.
The British Retail Consortium said there were around eight million incidents of shoplifting in the 12 months to March, however, police recorded 339,206 cases.
Just 48,218 of these incidents resulted in charges.
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The BRC’s 2023 Crime Survey Report also found that retailers have spent £715m on crime prevention since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Policing minister, Chris Philp, is calling on all forces to increase the use of live facial recognition technology and artificial intelligence to check known shoplifters images against the police national computer.
At present, only the Metropolitan Police and South Wales police do so on a regular basis.
As the Information Commissioner’s Office approved the use of private facial recognition company, Facewatch, retailers will also be able to crack down on identifying shoplifters.
For £10 per day, a live facial recognition system can be linked to CCTV cameras in stores, which is connected to a database of images of prolific shoplifters.
Earlier this month, Waitrose said that while it could not “speculate on the reasons”, it was seeing “rising numbers of shoplifting offences – often by organised gangs as well anti-social behaviour”.
Co-op food managing director, Matt Hood, has also called on the police to “play their part” in tackling retail crime as rates surge 35% year on year.
The convenience retailer said crime, shoplifting and anti-social behaviour were “out of control,” with more than 175,000 incidents recorded in the first six months of 2023, which equates to almost 1,000 incidents a day.
