New data shows retail stores are safer since introducing retail crime intelligence technology, cutting the rate of violence and abuse by almost a quarter since last year.
UK retailers that use Auror, an intelligence platform used to record crime and connect the dots to repeat offenders, achieved a 24 drop in the rate of violent events compared to 2025.
London and Manchester high street shops saw a 21 and 20 per cent reduction in the rate of in-store violence, respectively. Retailer reporting also showed the top 10 per cent of offenders are responsible for up to 70 per cent of retail crime.
Auror General Manager UK and Europe Mark Gleeson said there’s broad recognition that high levels of violence and organised crime are impacting our high streets, and this new data shows retailers are committed to doing something about it.
“Retailers have been world-class in their approach to get on top of this issue; understanding that creating safer high streets is a shared responsibility and have responded by coming together as a network to fight back,” he said.
“Stores are able to make more informed decisions about risk and safety by focusing on the top offenders driving the majority of harm across retail, and using that intelligence to work more effectively with police.
“Retailers are doing a phenomenal job, but we know there’s still more to be done to create safer retail spaces for everybody. Structured crime reporting, continued collaboration with police, and responsible risk detection technology for retailers will be key to building on this progress into the future.”
The focus of police on tackling retail crime in partnership with retailers has also powered these results. Auror’s direct-to-police reporting (DTPR) functionality for retailers allowed police in London to quadruple their positive outcome rate for retail crime offences (a charge, arrest, conviction or justice-based outcome), while many other forces across the country have also doubled outcome rates.
Auror retailer data - rate of violence and aggression (2025 v 2026)
- United Kingdom: 8.9 per cent of recorded events were violent in 2025, and fell to 6.8 per cent this year (-24 per cent).
- London: 13.7 per cent of recorded events were violent in 2025, and fell to 10.8 per cent this year (-21 per cent).
- Manchester: six per cent of recorded events were violent in 2025, and fell to 4.8 per cent this year (-20 per cent).
- Scotland: 8.5 per cent of recorded events were violent in 2025, and fell to 6.6 per cent this year (-22 per cent).
- On average, retailers record more than 310 violent or threatening events in Auror across the UK every day.
- Repeat offenders are up to four times more likely to be violent.
Case Studies: Retailers surfacing violent and organised repeat offenders
- UK-wide: A violent offender connected to more than 60 events in Manchester, London and Norwich was linked to £50k in stolen products.
- London: Retailers helped surface a multi-million pound organised crime group in London, with £500k of stolen product seized in July.
- Glasgow: Seven separate major retailers linked a known violent offender to more than 70 crime events across 19 different stores from Clydebank to Rutherglen to Cadder, and in central Glasgow in July.
- Glasgow: Six retailers connected 72 events to an erratic offender that offended across Glasgow.
- Manchester: Highly aggressive offender across three retailers connected to 90 events and £10.6k in stolen products across Altrincham, Sale and Manchester, in September.
- Leeds: An aggressive offender linked to 45 events and £12.7k in stolen products was sentenced in July.