Shoplifting surges by 25% as slump tempts the 'innocent'

Published on Wednesday 15 July 2009 22:12

SHOPLIFTING is soaring in Scotland's main cities, as the recession tempts more people into committing crime.

New figures reveal in 2008-9, some 1,300 more shoplifting offences were recorded in Scotland's two biggest police force areas, Strathclyde and Lothian and Borders, compared with the previous year.

The Tayside, Central Scotland and Northern forces have also seen an increase in shoplifting over 12 months.

Police and shopkeepers admit they are being hit by a crimewave as a result of the economic slowdown, which has seen unemployment in Scotland rise by more than one third to 179,000.

Police in Edinburgh are now preparing to ban shoplifters from every shop in the city centre to try to tackle the growing problem.

Lothian and Borders Police is drawing up plans for a scheme similar to the "Unight" security crackdown, under which police and nightclub owners share information about troublemakers. Last year, it led to Hibernian football player Derek Riordan being banned from every nightclub in the capital.

Chief Inspector Kevin Murray, who is in charge of policing central Edinburgh, said a growing number of offenders were being caught shoplifting.

"What is surprising is that the majority of offences are being committed by single offenders," he said. "There was always a belief that shoplifting was carried out in the main by a hardcore of recidivists."

The number of offenders caught stealing from shops in Edinburgh's city centre has increased from 615 in 2007-8 to 691 last year.

Mr Murray said: "Shoplifting has gone up in the last year. Those being presented with an opportunity that they may not have previously considered are now maybe taking it, due to the particular social difficulties at the moment."

He said police were hitting back, with increased numbers of plainclothes officers going into shops to look out for thieves and high-visibility patrols inside stores.

Richard Dodd, a spokesman for the Scottish Retail Consortium, said shopkeepers were aware that theft was becoming a bigger problem.

He said: "The experience of previous recessions is that thieving, including stealing from shops, goes up, and there's no question that's what we're seeing now.

"Usually, shoplifting is carried out by people who steal small, high-value items they can sell to fund drug habits. That's still going on, but on top of that we are seeing a wider range of people stealing a bigger range of items. There are more instances of people stealing things they can use themselves rather than trying to sell on."

Although shoplifting is showing a clear upward trend, the picture is mixed when it comes to other property crimes.

Domestic housebreakings increased by 3 per cent in Strathclyde – from 3,648 to 3,759 – but fell by 4 per cent in Lothian and Borders, from 1,945 to 1,871.

The number of car thefts in Strathclyde was virtually unchanged, with 4,666 offences recorded in 2008-9, against 4,661 the previous year. In Lothian and Borders, the number of thefts and attempted thefts fell from 2,839 to 2,756.