Retail trade union Usdaw has urged MPs to support Labour’s ‘community policing guarantee’, designed to tackle retail crime.
The plan, outlined in an opposition motion debated in the House of Commons, pointed out the gap in the government legislation dealing with the “epidemic” of retail crime facing the sector.
The motion proposed by Labour included bolstering the number of neighbourhood police officers and police community support officers, which has been reduced by 10,000 since 2015.
The party wants to add an extra 13,000 police and community support officers back in towns to increase patrols in retail areas.
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Other commitments proposed by Labour during the debate include scrapping the £200 limit on crown court prosecutions for shoplifting in the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, and creating a new specific offence of violence against shop workers.
Minister for policing Chris Philp acknowledged that the “considerable increase in shoplifting” was an area the current government “need[ed] to do better”, but disagreed with Labour’s claims, instead pointing to initiatives such as antisocial behaviour hotspot patrols as examples of governmental action.
Usdaw general secretary Paddy Lillis said: “This Government has repeatedly failed to act in the face of an epidemic of retail crime and rising theft from shops. The plan put forward by Labour, which builds on the commitments set out by the Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and has widespread support across the retail industry, would make a real difference on the shopfloor for our members.
“It is time for this Government to end their opposition, do the right thing and help our members secure the protection they deserve. It was deeply disappointing that there were no measures announced in the King’s Speech to tackle high levels of theft from shops and abuse of shopworkers.
“Labour has promised to plug the gap in the Government’s legislative programme by seeking to amend the Government’s Criminal Justice Bill to strengthen the law to protect shopworkers from violence, threats and abuse. Labour is clearly offering the change our members need.”
