The Government has been told to stop using the term “theft” to describe street theft as peers warn it is trivializing a serious crime involving organized crime gangs.

Lord Foster of Bath, chairman of the House of Lords justice and home affairs committee, called on the Home Office, the police and other agencies in the criminal justice system to start using the term “shoplifting” to describe shoplifting.

Writing to Ms Diana Johnson, the police minister, Lord Foster said the committee of peers was “concerned that the use of the historic term ‘theft’ is outdated, not least because of the increasing involvement of organized crime, and trivialises the seriousness of organized crime. crime”.

He said this was because “theft” was still seen as a small or victimless crime, despite having a “devastating” effect on high streets.

The request for officials to stop using the term theft comes as part of a series of recommendations by the Lords committee, which recently held a investigation into street crime.

It follows months of warnings from shops about rising incidents of shoplifting, with retail crime rates at their highest level on record.

According to official figures, there were 443,995 incidents of shoplifting recorded by the police in the year to March 2024, up 30% on the previous year.

However, retail leaders say this is far below the actual crime rate.

The British Retail Consortium estimates that there are 17 million incidents of shoplifting each year, costing retailers nearly £2 billion each year.

Retailers are spending an extra £700m on extra security in a bid to deter criminals.

Last week, Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, promised to crack down on organized crime and end petty theft.

The government is bringing in new laws to make this a separate crime assault a retail worker and repeals rules which essentially decriminalize the theft of items under £200.

However, writing in The Telegraph on Tuesday after the recommendations were published, Lord Foster said there was still “more to do”.

He said the government should introduce new rules for the anonymous sale of items online to prevent people from shoplifting and reselling products.

Lord Foster said more needed to be done to educate the public about the impact of retail crime, saying people had a “responsibility” when deciding where to buy goods.

He said: “A useful mantra applies: ‘If it’s really cheap and too good to be true, then it’s probably a steal.’

The House of Lords committee also recommended the introduction of new laws to regulate the “safe and ethical” use of facial recognition technology, which is increasingly being used to tackle street crime.

Shoplifting is not a victimless crime

By Lord Foster of Bath, Chairman of the Justice and Home Affairs Committee of the House of Lords

Shoplifting has been in the news a lot recently. It even appears in the opening sequence of Have I Got News for You.

But despite what some criminals have tried to suggest, it is not a victimless crime. Last year it cost £2bn and had a devastating impact on the retail sector, leading to higher prices which impact on individuals, families and communities.

While police are scrambling to solve the problem, the vast majority of the estimated 17 million shoplifting incidents each year go unreported. And shoplifting is on the rise, with one major retailer reporting a 44% increase over the past 18 months, coupled with a 35% rise in violence and abuse of store workers.

These are the key findings from a recent inquiry by the House of Lords justice and home affairs committee.

Back in the day, the thought of someone ‘stealing’ brought to mind someone nibbling on a packet of sweets or stuffing an item into their sweater – anti-social behaviour, but not very serious. It was treated as a petty or trivial offense and sometimes with some sympathy for those who took property out of a perceived need to feed themselves or support their families.

This is an outdated understanding of the problem.

Today, shoplifters go about their business with a frenzy, no longer trying to hide their illegal activities. In addition, shoplifting is now also associated with increasing levels of violence and intimidation against retail workers. This impacts local communities in ways beyond the direct economic costs associated with the problem.

There is no doubt that many vulnerable people are driven to shoplifting by factors such as alcohol or drug addiction or by difficult individual circumstances.

But behind a large proportion of shoplifting there is now an elaborate network of organized crime, ranging from small-scale local networks to large criminal gangs involved in sophisticated criminal enterprises and operating nationally or internationally and selling stolen goods in places like cars. boot sales and online.

However, until recently, little action was taken. Retailers often don’t bother to report shoplifting. First, because I don’t think the police will take action, with one retail chain claiming that the police failed to catch 70% of reported crimes.

Second, because the reporting procedure is cumbersome and takes about 30 minutes, which, especially for small retailers, is time they cannot afford.

Clearly changing the perception of shoplifting as ‘trivial’, streamlining the reporting process, improving data collection and improving trust in the police is vital.

Pegasus, a relative a new scheme to achieve some of thesewas established as a partnership between retailers and the police, aimed at building a better picture of organized criminal networks involved in retail crime.

We welcome this initiative, particularly the efforts of the retailers themselves to organize and take action, and believe that the Home Office should commit to funding the initiative for at least a second year.

However, we believe that the Pegasus definition of ‘organized crime’ – which only includes activities operating in two or more police force areas – does not capture smaller-scale gangs and criminal networks that operate at a more localized level and would must be modified. .

The law as it stands also undermines efforts to address the problem. The legislation was introduced in 2014 to make it easier to deal with “low-value shoplifting” through fixed penalty notices, rather than taking people through the courts. Unfortunately, this did not work as intended.

In effect, the consequence of this legislation was that the theft of goods worth £200 was effectively decriminalised, with many involved in retail crime believing they had a license to steal.

The government recognizes that shoplifting is a serious problem and has indicated its intention to repeal the 2014 measures. This should be done as soon as possible.

Scotland introduced a stand-alone offense of assaulting a retail worker, which led to 60% of those charged being arrested. In England and Wales, the figure is just 10pc. So we welcome the Government’s plans to bring England and Wales into line with Scotland.

But there is more to do. recognize pressures on police resources but we believe that the urgency of the shoplifting situation requires immediate action within existing police staffing levels and our committee has made its recommendations to the Police Minister.

Our first and most important recommendation addresses the fundamental point of how “shoplifting” is defined in the first place. We believe that “theft” is a term that trivializes the nature of the crime and should not be used by the Government, the police or other agencies in the criminal justice system.

Recognizing that addiction is often a driving factor in criminal activity, we call for better community-based drug and alcohol treatment to address the large impact drug and alcohol dependent offenders have on shoplifting levels.

The reporting system should be improved and it can be done, as illustrated by a trial in Sussex, reducing the reporting time from 30 to two minutes. But we also want to see a ‘retail flag’ system introduced into the national police database to improve data collection. All police forces should sign up to these systems.

The Committee also recognizes that, as with Pegasus, combating shoplifting requires the contribution of the private sector. Across the country, business crime reduction partnerships play an important role.

But accreditation to a national standard should be mandatory. Voluntary and privately funded initiatives to tackle retail crime should work alongside the police – not to take on a police role themselves.

Our committee has had a long-standing interest in the use of new technologies in the justice system, such as the role of facial recognition technology in fighting crime. This is now a key tool in identifying prolific criminals.

However, we believe that the Government should legislate to regulate the safe and ethical use of these technologies to ensure that the rights of members of the public are protected. There is a particular need to ensure that private companies using facial recognition technology for crime prevention measures do so in accordance with best practice.

There is also the issue of online marketplaces, which are increasingly being used to sell shoplifted goods. Regulations should be introduced to make it more difficult to sell goods anonymously.

Finally, there is the issue of public awareness. The link between retail crime and the stolen goods market must be publicized. The public has a responsibility to exercise care when deciding how and where they buy their goods. A useful mantra applies: “If it’s really cheap and too good to be true, then it’s probably a steal.”

There is no silver bullet to ending shoplifting. But our report argues for it to be a higher priority and offers some ways to improve how it is tackled.

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