Friday 01 February 2019 1:02 pm | Updated: Monday 03 June 2019 2:21 am

Shoplifting increases at UK supermarkets as police admit cuts mean they must prioritise other crimes

Shoplifting in supermarkets at England and Wales increased by over seven per cent between 2014 and 2017, according to new figures.

Police in England and Wales investigated a combined 78,110 shoplifting incidents in 2017, up from 72,423 in 2014, according to the Press Association (PA).

James Martin, the British Retail Consortium's crime and security adviser, said that “the costs are borne by everyday shoppers and those who rely on retail for their livelihoods”.

“These figures indicate that, despite the best efforts of our members, criminals are increasingly targeting supermarkets,” Martin added.

Martin acknowledged the “difficult resourcing and prioritisation decision” police forces face, but said “it is clearly time that every police force gives retail crime the strategic priority it deserves”.

John Apter, national chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales,said that shoplifting crimes can take away police's focus from more urgent tasks at a time when government cutbacks have slashed resources.

“The reality is that officers can be tied up, sometimes for hours dealing with shoplifters, preventing them from answering other 999 calls which may be more urgent. It's all about priorities,” he said.

“Ten years of the Government’s austerity policies, which have seen officer numbers cut by nearly 22,000, have resulted in policing in England and Wales becoming an almost entirely reactive service,” Apter added.

“The sad fact is that as forces struggle to meet 999-call demand incidents such as these are increasingly likely not to be attended by officers at all. Which, as a serving police constable with 26 years’ service, I find quite shocking.”

The PA's report is based on data compiled from all police forces in England and Wales except 18, which either declined to release information, provided partial data, or did not respond to requests for figures.

Contradicting the PA's findings, the Office for National Statistics' 2018 Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) reported a decrease in shoplifting of one per cent between October 2017 and September 2018.

Similar to the PA, the CSEW collected police data on shoplifting for its report.

In order to address underreporting, the Commercial Victimisation Survey (CVS) collects both police recorded crime and unreported incidents.

The survey, which gathers data on crimes experienced by businesses, found no statistically significant increase in shoplifting offences in the Wholesale and retail sector between 2014 and 2017.

The CVS did find that the cost of shoplifting has increased with the average cost per incident nearly doubling since 2012 to £60.

According to the CVS, shoplifting remains the most common crime perpetuated against supermarkets, accounting for two-thirds of all crime reported by Wholesale and retail premises.