Abdullah Desai who is a service assistant at the Newsagent in the Merrion Centre said that, ”three or four thousand pounds worth of stock” went missing after continual break-ins happened over the course of the past year.
Asking Mr Desai about why he thought that there was a rise in shoplifting incidents he said, ”the rules and regulations are too soft. A lot of times it is just kids messing around because they know they can get away with it. The police and security don’t have any powers. Even if they caught someone now and they were under 18 they cannot do anything about it.”
Mr Desai said what he thought should be the penalty for the underage offenders, ”I think they should have some kind of, at least a proceeding. Anybody that does anything regardless of how old they are, if they could take them to the police station, make them sit for a while try and find to see who their parents are, make them aware of what their son is up to when they’re going out and about.”
The Newsagent has had to invest in various security measures in order to deter the regular levels of shoplifting that they encounter. Mr Desai said that it was ”just a fortnight ago” that he last experienced a youth that stole some items and ran. However, after briefly chasing him, the youth dropped his phone, ‘unfortunately for him and fortunately for me’. The youth had to then return the stolen goods.
The security investments that the Newsagent has made include CCTV cameras and a security guard for inside the store overnight. He said that the people that previously smashed the windows and stole some items had a, ‘good surprise that somebody was inside that they didn’t expect.’ They’ve also invested in an alarm and metal bars for the entrance. The front desk has also been made more accessible for whoever is on the till to get out and catch any perpetrators.
The people of Leeds were asked about what they thought about the changes they have seen since the cost of living crisis hit and a few of the answers included, ‘butter, Wetherspoons three plates, supermarket prices and meal deals.’ One man even said that, ‘I see a lot of mates that have just started their careers earning minimum wage, who haven’t had that previous experience, who are literally resorting to stealing.’
The Office of National Statistics publishes the UK’s crime statistics every three months and a correlation has emerged in June which has shown how in the past 8 years, 2023 has hit the highest levels in West Yorkshire for shoplifting. Having dropped drastically in 2021 the rise rapidly came back up and exceeded the level in 2018 when it was last at it’s highest.
Leeds Now looked into how this was in comparison to the rest of the England and found that in June of 2023 it was on the same type of rise since 2021 but had not reached the same peak that Leeds had in the past year.
These statistics force the question to be asked about how to solve the level of shoplifting without having a negative financial effect on local markets and supermarkets and how the government are planning on helping out those that are being forced to steal.
