FIRST REGIONAL RETAIL CRIME FIGURES

- WALES EXPERIENCES LEAST RETAIL CRIME IN GB -

12 October 2005

The British Retail Consortium (BRC), in conjunction with Retail Loss Prevention (RLP) can reveal for the first time a regional breakdown of retail crime figures.

This comes just before the (BRC) 2005 Retail Crime and Security Conference to be held on 19 October, and the launch of the BRC’s 12th Annual Crime Survey, the most comprehensive report on the effects of retail crime on the industry nationally.

The figures show that retailers in Wales experience the least retail crime in the UK, with a target index score of 64 - well below the UK ‘norm’ of 1001. This is not necessarily a result to be expected, as Wales does not have the least number of shops per households in the UK; it ranks as fourth lowest2.

Following closely behind Wales is the South West of England, which encounters the second least retail crime with a target index score of 72. However, the North West of England experiences significantly more retail crime with a target index score of 116.

At the other end of the scale is London, which has the highest number of retail crime occurrences in the country with a target index score of 160 - well above the UK ‘norm’ of 100.

Excluding London, all of the regions that experience incidents of retail crime above the ‘norm’ are in the midlands and northern parts of England.

BRC, Director General, Kevin Hawkins, says: “The implications of retail crime are far reaching. Shop thieves, often drug-fuelled, can severely disrupt retail businesses and have a demoralising effect on shop owners and staff. These same individuals are often also associated with vandalism, abuse and violence, creating a trail of damage that leaves a scar on the wider community.

“It is because of these problems that the BRC recently announced a campaign entitled ‘SCAR’ to raise the profile of retail crime with the Government, Police and wider society geared to 'Stop Crime Against Retail'.

“It is vital that we continue to work closely with organisations such as RLP to help retailers build up a profile of where retail crime offences occur in the UK. This analysis of patterns of theft highlights significant problems for policing in some regions. Retailers are clearly challenged by the varying profile of retail crime across the country.”

RLP Marketing Manager, Julia Barclay, says: “Every year RLP handles in excess of 50,000 civil recovery claims on behalf of our clients. This has enabled us to build up a significant profile of where these offences occur within the country, which is imperative if we are to help our clients in their constant battle to combat retail theft and fraud.”

The gathering of such data is essential for retailers’ loss prevention and security departments and gives retailers the opportunity to evaluate the data and make informed choices before implementing their crime policies.

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