The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has called for tougher police action on retail crime ahead of the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) elections next month.
The trade body is urging PCC candidates to commit to a stronger stance on retail crime following the surge in violence and abuse against retail staff last year.
The BRC has asked candidates to make retail crime a priority and allocate necessary resources for tackling the incidents in their region.
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It has also asked candidates to commit to working with other policing stakeholders to ensure the standalone offence for assaulting a retail worker is used and data on its use is tracked.
BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said: “Inadequate police action has given criminals free rein to steal goods and assault retail colleagues.
“Newly elected PCCs have a fantastic opportunity to get tough on retail crime through the new standalone offence, and I hope the next wave of PCCs deliver the protections that those working in retail and our communities up and down the country deserve.”
The government revealed earlier this month that assaulting a shopworker will soon be made a separate criminal offence in England and Wales as part of its clampdown on the surge in shoplifting.
It also pledged £55m in facial recognition technology over the next four years to “help catch perpetrators and prevent shoplifting”.
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