Shoplifting: Surrey Heath
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to support shop owners subject to persistent theft in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Sarah Jones
Shop theft continues to increase at an unacceptable level. Tackling it is a priority for this Government.
We are providing £5 million over the next three years to fund a specialist analysis team within Opal, the National Policing Intelligence Unit for serious organised acquisitive crime, to crack down on the organised gangs targeting retailers.
We are also investing £2 million over the next three years in the National Business Crime Centre (NBCC) which provides a resource for both police and businesses to learn, share and support each other to prevent and combat crime.
Via the Crime and Policing Bill we will repeal the legislation which makes shop theft of and below £200 a summary-only offence, which means it can only be tried a magistrate's court. This will send a clear message that any level of shop theft is illegal and will be taken seriously. Also included in the Bill is a new offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores.
We are also supporting a new Tackling Retail Crime Together strategy to tackle shop theft published by policing, retail sector representatives and industry as part of collective efforts to combat shop theft.
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