Staff in John Lewis stores are being trained to deter shoplifters as recent data shows marked spike in violence towards retail staff and shoplifting in Wales.
John Lewis is “investing heavily in training” and giving bodycams to retail staff to arm them against shoplifting and violent behavior, BBC reported. They are also doing training known as “love bombing”, which uses good customer service to deter abuse.
It comes as Welsh Retail Consortium (WRC) said violence towards staff in Cardiff between 2021 and 2022 had risen by 30 per cent while shoplifting had spiked by 68 per cent.
Sara Jones, head of the WRC, said the losses were costing shops billions of pounds a year across UK but added that effect may soon be felt by customers. She stated that the WRC planned to write to South Wales Police about how to deal with retail crime in Cardiff.
“At the moment only 7 per cent of retail crime gets prosecuted and we need to see that figure significantly increase. We understand the challenges and we are also asking the Home Office to look at some of the legislation that’s in place like the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act.
“We want that to be bolstered, better reporting around the data in that, which will hopefully help our retailers in the long run.”
She said retailers wanted to prioritise retail crime while protecting staff and customers.
“Over 40 per cent of colleagues fear for their safety when they’re in the workplace and that is a concern for all of us,” she said.
Meanwhile, another research last week pointed out the streets with the highest level of shoplifting, highlighting how some areas are seeing increases of over 40 per cent in the last year.
According to a Reach Data Unit analysis using hyperlocal crime data, more shoplifters visited Cathays South & Bute Park in Cardiff than anywhere else in Wales last year, with 1,201 crimes recorded – a 46per cent increase on the previous year. That was followed by Central Swansea (593 crimes) and then Hermitage & Whitegate in Wrexham (391).
The rate of theft per 10 shops shows that Hermitage & Whitegate suffers the equivalent of about 65.2 shoplifting offences for every 10 shops, the highest rate in Wales. Next is Pen-y-lan South in Cardiff with 58.4 crimes per 10 shops, and then Peterston-super-Ely & Wenvoe in The Vale of Glamorgan (55.3 crimes per 10 shops).
Separate Home Office figures show that nationally, there was a 22 per cent rise in shoplifting last year, with the number of offences rising from 256,000 to 314,000. That was the highest number since 2019, the last year before the pandemic, when there were 367,000 crimes recorded.
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