Some 245,500 shoplifting cases were closed without a suspect being identified in the year to March 2024, damning research by the Liberal Democrats shows
A record 670 shoplifting crimes a day went unsolved in the last year – as shop staff brace for a “Christmas crime wave”.
Some 245,500 shoplifting cases were closed without a suspect being identified in the year to March 2024, damning research by the Liberal Democrats shows. This is equivalent to an average of 672 a day and a staggering 38% rise from the 178,432 shoplifting offences that went unsolved in the same period five years ago.
Overall, more than half (56.4%) of shoplifting offences were closed due to no suspect having been identified, up from 48.9% five years ago, according to the analysis. Only around one in six (17.2%) of cases led to a suspect being charged or summonsed, down from one in five (21.2%) five years ago, the Lib Dems said.
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The Mirror is campaigning for better protections for staff from shoplifting. The Liberal Democrats are calling for the government to ensure a proper return to community policing where officers have the time and resources they need to focus on keeping their local neighbourhoods safe.
In the PM’s Plan for Change, Keir Starmer set a target to deliver 13,000 additional officers, PCSOs and special constables in neighbourhood roles in England and Wales over this Parliament. A named police officer has been promised for every neighbourhood to help tackle local crime. Labour’s Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee will establish a new performance unit at the Home Office to end the postcode lottery in police standards across the country.
Lib Dem Home Affairs spokeswoman Lisa Smart said: “Shop staff are having to deal with a Christmas crime wave as shoplifters act with impunity with so many crimes being effectively legalised by the previous Conservative government’s shocking neglect. The new government needs to get a grip on this shoplifting epidemic and hard-working shop staff on the frontline need to be reassured that they will not continue to be abandoned.”
Policing minister Dame Diana Johnson said: “In the last year of the Tory government, shoplifting soared to a twenty-year high, up 30% in just 12 months. By the end of their tenure, more than half of the public said they never saw a bobby on the beat, double the proportion than in 2010. That was the Conservatives’ disastrous legacy on law and order and our communities have paid the price. That’s why this Labour Government is committed to putting neighbourhood police back on the beat and creating new powers for the police to crack down on the scourge of antisocial behaviour, shoplifting and street crime in our towns and cities.”
