EXCLUSIVE: Big rise in shoplifting reports across North Yorkshire
Police have been telling us the figures
There has been a big rise in reports of shoplifting across North Yorkshire.
Exclusive figures show 3316 cases have been logged by the police so far this year.
That is already more than in the whole of 2022 when the total came to 3285.
Miles Jackson, owner of the joke and magic shop in Scarborough on the seafront, said: "Unfortunately we have had incidents but with being a joke shop, we're filled with novelty items with highly desirable things for people to pick up and touch, but our main culprits because we sell toys, novelty items and games, it's just kids nicking stuff.
"People stealing does happen unfortunately. We have had some recently but more often than not we do catch them, because we've got a really advanced CCTV system where we can get instant playback, monitor where things are picked up or put down, so we're able to get a very high success rate of recovering goods.
"It doesn't deter criminals but it makes it easier for us to catch them and get the goods back. We can literally have a suspicion of someone in the store, immediately run the video back because it's right by our till and then address them straight away.
"Because we have novelty, low value stuff, as soon as we approach someone saying 'do you want to us that back now?' They usually surrender. It's just that it gives us the confidence to say 'you've got this in your pocket or in your bag, give it back.' It's just one of those things we have to tackle in retail.
"I actually did create a WhatsApp group for all the businesses down here on the seafront and it's a private group. It enables us to immediately share images to other businesses in the area saying 'here's the images from one, we just caught them stealing, keep an eye on them' and likewise they do the same.
"Prevention is always better than a cure. We always put the word out and they put the word out if they get any problems, so it's all about communication and information. I did create the group because I don't only have this shop, I have two other shops in Scarborough so it's also handy for me to share that with my other shops instantly as well as the other shops along the seafront."