Respect for Shopworkers’ Week draws attention to the unacceptable level of personal abuse and violence that people who work in shops are subjected to day in and day out.
Discourtesy, irritation and impatience towards shop workers are all sadly too common.
We also live in times where people seem to feel it is acceptable, in their dealings with other people, to shout and abuse when things are not going exactly their way.
For shopworkers, they are particularly vulnerable to this in their everyday working lives. However, they are also often the victims of violent retail crime.
When people say that shoplifting is a victimless crime they do not appreciate the associated violence that often goes with it. Shoplifters are often people who have drug and alcohol problems and when a shop worker tries to apprehend or challenge them violence flares. About 60 per cent of violent incidents occur when staff attempt to detain criminals or to protect property from theft. In order to deal with shoplifting it is important to understand the link between it and other criminal activities, such as organised crime. Much shop theft is done by people desperate for cash to buy drugs or alcohol. A Home Office report entitled: ‘Strengthening powers to tackle antisocial behaviour’ said that people who commit retail theft are 85 per cent likely to be drug users and to live ‘chaotic’ lifestyles. So, far from being a trivial offence, shoplifting may be a visible sign of a shoplifter’s more extensive criminal activity or of his or her link to organised crime.
Another flashpoint is when shopworkers ask for ID from young people attempting to buy alcohol. It’s a request that can often be met with an abusive and violent response. The problem for shopworkers is that they personally face prosecution for selling alcohol for under-18s. So they face being prosecuted on the one hand or attacked on the other.
It is important therefore that retail crime is not seen as low priority. This is, of course, is a danger at a time when police forces are reordering their priorities and resources are lower because of government cuts. It is important that we have a visible presence of police in shopping centres and in high streets and that injunctions and Antisocial Behaviour Orders are used appropriately to tackle people’s antisocial behaviour and violence towards shop workers. A shop that the target of persistent crime and antisocial behaviour is not a safe place for staff or customers. Communities would benefit if reducing retail crime, including shoplifting, was made a key police performance indicator.
Preventing crime and antisocial behaviour in and around stores and shopping centre is vital for the regeneration and strengthening of our communities and for the wellbeing of shop workers and customers.
Support for shopworkers should be seen through treating retail crime seriously but also we can all play our part in taking care to treat shop workers courteously and to respect those, who because of their job, are not able to answer back.
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Ann Coffey is MP for Stockport and seretary of the Usdaw group of MPs