'Shoplifting worst it has ever been' – The Fed

Fed member and Northern district president Martin Ward recently took to the airwaves to slam the rise in shoplifting saying, “it is an everyday occurrence” and opening his doors on a morning fills him with dread.

On Tuesday morning, December 17, Mr Ward, who owns Cowpen Lane News, in Billingham, joined other concerned members of the public to discuss the damming effects of retail crime with Nicky Campbell on BBC Radio 5 Live.

Retail crime in its true nature has blighted retail over recent years and still there is very little being done. An increase of 28 per cent on 2023 reporting levels of shoplifting was reported by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) earlier this year.

Introduced to the show, Mr Ward advised how, for him, “It is an everyday occurrence unfortunately, now, you don’t know what you’re going to get when you open the doors every morning. It has definitely got a lot worse over the last five to ten years.”

Mr Campbell pressed Martin, asking how members of the public can help. “Should I shout or stop them?” he asked.

Martin replied: “Shouting at them is fine, as long as you are at a distance. The problem you’ve got is these people are dangerous, they don’t want to get stopped, they’ll do whatever they need to not get stopped.”

Martin then recounted when three shoplifters came into his store and, after narrowly missing them to challenge the assailants, he later learnt from the police that one of the criminals was known to carry a knife.

When discussing what actions members of the public could perform to stop this, Michael, a recently retired former police inspector who was also on the call, said that anyone who reports shoplifting, public or shopkeeper, needs to be clear.

He said: “You have got to report it every time. You may or may not get the response you hoped for. Sometimes we would listen to a 999 tape of a report that someone had a shoplifter in the store, and when we got there we would find out there was a violent robbery with a weapon.

“It is really important when ringing the police to actually mention what is happening. If there are weapons involved or violence threatened, please say that as there will be someone who decides which 999 calls get priority and the rule of thumb with those decisions is people become a bigger priority than property every single day.

“If the shoplifting is in progress and involves violence, it is a 999 call every time and you need to mention the violence and that it is ongoing, as that does affect the assessments and priority of the call.”

However, it was also discussed just why witnesses don’t want to get involved and simply let the criminals get away with it, as Martin also explained: “I understand why people do it, they don’t want to get involved, they don’t want to have to go to court and don’t want to make witness statements.

“What I have found with shoplifters is, if you are watching them, they don’t do it directly in front of you, so if everyone is watching it there might be less of it. But it does run the risk that they may just move on to somewhere else.”