Near doubling in shoplifting cases solved in Hampshire & Isle of Wight

The number of shoplifting victims in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight whose cases have been solved has nearly doubled.

Hampshire & Isle of Wight Police say there's been an 83.3% increase in outcomes for victims of retail crime since a crackdown last year.

The Retail Crime Action Plan has seen facial recognition technology used to identify offenders, and City Centre units introduced to help detain suspected shoplifters more quickly.

It comes as figures from the British Retail Consortium last month found violence and abuse towards shop workers rose by 50 percent in the year to September 2023.

Retail workers having to tackle shoplifters to the ground

Retail staff told Greatest Hits Radio the rise in shoplifting has made them scared of going into work.

Rebecca Mudie, who works at River Island on Commercial Road, Portsmouth, says shoplifters have chased staff around the store, including some armed with knives.

"I've seen people come in they take whole arms full of stuff, they're aggressive, they don't care what they take," she said.

She added that staff have had to tackle shoplifters, which she says makes it "quite a scary role sometimes."

Rebecca praised Hampshire and Isle of Wight Police's work to reduce shoplifting.

"From last year to this year, you can see that a lot of the repeat offenders are actually not around anymore, so the police are doing a fantastic job at actually policing the streets."

Daisy Potter, who works at the Sainsbury's Local on Guildhall Square, said they have between 5-10 incidents of shoplifting per day.

"It was fairly shocking at first, just the extent of how many shoplifters and how many incidents we have a day."

She added she was hoping for a "record low" number of shoplifting incidents this year.

Reducing shoplifting 'in the DNA of policing'

Hampshire and Isle of Wight's Chief Constable Scott Chilton said reducing retail crime was "in the DNA of policing."

"It's a combination of old fashioned policing, having bobbies on the beat, speaking to shopkeepers, targeting the prolific criminals that make a living out of this," CC Chilton said.

"We're also using some of the new technology that's available, things like facial recognition, so we can identify offenders, track them down, arrest them, and bring them before the courts."

He added that increasing arrests would not stop shoplifting, and that greater engagement with the community was needed.

"Tell us who's committing these crimes, pass the information on, gives us your images, and we will go and arrest the offenders."

The counties' Police and Crime Commissioner, Donna Jones, said tackling shoplifting was important to delivering for residents.

"That is a police service that takes shoplifting seriously, that turns when shops are reporting shoplifting, and particularly where there are assaults against shop workers."

She urged shoplifters suffering with drug or alcohol addictions to get support immediately.

"However, if you don't get that support, and you carry on shoplifting, you will be caught, you're going to be arrested, you're going to be charged, and you're to be brought to justice."