Shoplifting has become the fastest growing crime in the UK

Funnily enough, I have noticed over the past number of weeks an increase in security at supermarkets as diverse as Lidl and Waitrose with uniformed security people both at the entrances and hanging around the ‘high value’ parts of these (and other) stores. It seems that the days of the individual, small-time, shop thief is no more, and what we are getting nowadays is organised gangs targeting stores in both a professional and violent manner. Indeed, branch managers have reported being terrified as groups of masked and often armed youths smashed through glass doors, jumped through glass doors and ransacking shelves. However, many in the retail trade are pointing accusing fingers at the police, claiming that they failed to respond to 71 per cent of reported serious retail crimes; indeed, some forces, according to data, did not respond to nine out of ten calls about serious incidents. Some commentators have blamed the current financial crisis as the reason behind this staggering increase in shoplifting, but many say that this is nonsense, as the perpetrators are hardly the photo-fit image of a man or woman down on his/her luck.

Indeed, gangs of young men armed with knives are hardly the same as a middle aged man or woman surreptitiously stealing a bottle of wine or a pack of chicken thighs. It appears that the crimes are predominantly committed by repeat and prolific criminals with drug and alcohol addictions, and perhaps more surprisingly, by organised criminal gangs. For instance, a manager who works in a retail store in Leeds said that staff often face violence. He said: “They show you inside their coat, flash a knife or screwdriver and say - get the f*** back.”

One store in London was looted three times in one day, prompting the supermarket involved to that such figures were unsustainable and would create no-go areas for stores. You might ask, why this subject has arisen in my weekly FT column? Well, just last week I was told about two young men in a supermarket store just up the road from where I live, blatantly ransacking a shelf of high-end booze sat invitingly on a shelf - apparently not a word was exchanged between them, yet they clearly knew exactly what they were doing and swiftly disappeared in different directions. The one thing that I would say, is that I was firmly told they were not ‘identity-kit’ yobs you could spot a mile away, but ordinarily dressed young guys supposedly out shopping. As I mentioned in the very first sentence of this piece, I wonder if this retail crime wave has affected Mallorca in any way - and perhaps most importantly is this surge in criminality partly due to hard economic times, or just blatant thieves taking advantage of slack security in the places where we do our weekly shop?