British Retail consortium (BRC) director general Bill Moyes used the launch conference for the organisation's 10th Annual Retail Crime Survey to launch a scathing attack on Government for what he feels has been a lack of support for retailers in their bid to beat theft, writes Ian Drury.

Moyes stressed that in spite of falling losses (following an investment of £3.2 billion in crime detection and prevention measures by retailers over the past five years), there remains what he calls a "bedrock" of retail crime – worth a cool £1.7 billion in 2002 – that retailers cannot deal with on their own.

"The Government doesn't appear to care," said Moyes in an impassioned address. Until the recent re-shuffle there was a gap of 87 days with no Home Office minister responsible for crime. Does this suggest to you that retail theft is even on the Government's radar?"

Moyes explained that retail crime isn't one of the key performance indicators that police action is measured against. Moreover, the Home Office's network of regional crime reduction directors had a total of £150 million to spend on preventing crime – less than 2% of their budget.

In addition, around eight million customer theft offences are committed annually, but only 306,000 (less than 4%) recorded by the police. "This would seem to suggest that retailers feel there's no point involving the police. That's a very disturbing finding."

Moyes continued: "The fight against retail crime has been privatised. If the retail industry doesn't tackle this problem, the Government and the police cannot be relied upon. Yet this isn't just a business issue. The real price is paid by society. Two thirds of retail crime losses support drug abuse."

Source

SMT