Shopkeepers in Reading town centre have said that they feel ‘unsafe’ coming to work amid the increase in shoplifting throughout the town.
With up to three incidents a day reported to police, some shops have said that they have seen a 50-70 percent increase in the last year with police doing little to deter or catch offenders.
This echoes police chiefs in TVP who have said that shoplifting and other retail crime has not always been tackled effectively.
Mr Singh and Miss Jaswwoer Kaur, from Davinas newsagents in Reading spoke out about their experience as a small independent corner shop.
Mr Singh said: “It’s just horrendous. The range of people that come in to steal from us ranges from small kids to entire families of people.
“We try and stop them by using CCTV, alarms and confronting them but there is only so much we can do. The most common item that people shoplift is alcohol from the fridges and even when we have CCTV footage, police can’t do anything because it happens so many times.”
Ms Kaur noted that people who loiter on the street outside the Metro bank on St Mary’s Butts are regular shoplifters within their store.
She added: “We definitely need more police in town who are actively helping to prevent shoplifting. It’s very hard day-to-day and it’s scary when I’m here alone and someone starts getting violent. One man even tried to set fire to something in the shop as a distraction.”
Another shop that has seen a drastic increase in shoplifting and violence over the years includes JD Sports and John Lewis.
An employee from JD Sports, who does not wish to be identified, told the Chronicle about her experiences during her time in the shop.
She said: “We have had an increase in grab and runs lately. Normally it used to be organised crimes and planned shoplifting but now it feels like people no it because they know they can get away with it.
“This means we have to second guess everyone that comes in here. It is probably 50 percent homeless people, but the other 50 percent can be anyone. We have got alarms, CCTV cameras, foil guards, but it doesn’t seem to deter people if they want to steal something.
Another employee added: “It really doesn’t feel like we are backed-up by police at all. They will come in sometimes and look at CCTV but a lot of times they can’t do anything unless the shoplifter has done it a lot throughout the town.
“We often end up running after them ourselves out of the shop because we are the ones to get in trouble if we don’t get the stock back.”
Female shopkeepers and employees throughout Reading told the Chronicle that the increase in violence whilst working is ‘shocking’ and is often concentrated on women when attempting to shop lift.
To prevent shoplifting and retail crimes, Thames Valley Police have launched a new Retail Crime Strategy, developed jointly with retailers and businesses and backed by the Police and Crime Commissioner.
The strategy includes greater use of facial recognition technology to identify prolific shoplifters.
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