Member Article

Recession turns businesses into theft targets

The recession is creating more bad news for business - a big rise in shoplifting across North East stores.

Shoplifting throughout the Northumbria, Durham and Cleveland Police areas rose by 22% from September to December 2008 in comparison to the same period in 2007.

The North East Retail Crime Partnership (NERCP), a coalition of retail chiefs and police, believe it could cost the region’s businesses more than £50million in the coming year.

Dawn Robinson, NERCP manager, said: “The credit crunch is already bad news for retailers but it now looks like the recession could also be fuelling a rise in shop crime.

“Up until September last year, when the economic downturn started to bite, shop theft had been steadily falling in the North East. Now this trend has reversed.”

Asda’s regional security manager, Mike Cannon, responsible for the security of the retailer’s 22 North East stores, added: “We are noticing increasing arrests for shoplifting in each of our stores. There is certainly an increase in non-professional thefts. People cannot afford to buy certain items - many of these are day-to-day items - and are stealing them instead. Products being targeted include meat and coffee.”

According to a recent survey by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), small businesses lose an average of £13,500 each through crime each year.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .