Failing to take high street crime seriously has become one of the clearest symptoms of policing failure in modern Britain
The Telegraph - 16th December 2025
“Oh yes. We know him well. We actually know where he lives. He’s in here most days. Has been for a couple of years now. First it was steaks. Then powdered baby milk. Today it was cleaning products.”
That was the store manager of a high street convenience shop in my Hampshire constituency of Fareham & Waterlooville, speaking to me a few months ago. The tone was striking: not anger, not even indignation – just resignation. Acceptance, with only the faintest trace of irritation. The anger had long since burned itself out. This was simply how things were.
I spoke to the shop assistants. They were demoralised. Company policy is clear – do not intervene, do not challenge, do not approach a criminal while the theft is taking place. Look away, log the loss, move on.
At what point did the hard-working, law-abiding majority arrive at the stage of merely shrugging in the face of open criminality? How did shoplifting become so routine that supermarkets now lock up cuts of meat like jewellery? The answer is not complicated. For too long, shoplifting was treated as beneath notice.
The police stopped caring. And everyone else noticed.
Sir Mark Rowley, the Met Police Commissioner, has recently acknowledged that retailers were right to criticise the police and to demand more action. As home secretary, I shared that frustration. Victims of this slow, corrosive crime simply stopped reporting it. Expectations collapsed. Shoplifting was not regarded as a “high-harm” offence and therefore did not merit attention. A crime reference number, perhaps – if you were lucky. A visit? Don’t be absurd. An investigation leading to a charge? Now you were asking too much.
The police withdrew. Victims lost faith. Criminals learned the lesson. And so shoplifting exploded.
Last year, about 500,000 thefts were reported – a record. But that figure bears little relation to reality. The British Retail Consortium estimates the true number to be closer to 20 million incidents annually. Losses total £2.2bn. Fewer than three per cent are reported at all. This is not opportunism at the margins; it is systematic, habitual and largely consequence-free.
De facto decriminalisation has become one of the clearest symptoms of policing failure in modern Britain.
Now Sir Mark says the police have “stepped up” and that it is time for retailers to do their part. Fine – up to a point. But no quantity of CCTV cameras, no amount of staff goodwill, no number of court-attendance days authorised by co-operative bosses will matter if the criminal justice system fails to respond. Every incident must be investigated. Every suspect arrested. Every offence charged. And every conviction must carry a sentence that reflects seriousness. Prolific shoplifters should expect custody. They must see – clearly – that this is not a crime you get away with.
There are models that work. The Metropolitan Police is not among them. Hampshire, West Midlands and Northumbria are.
In Hampshire, under the energetic leadership of Donna Jones, the Police and Crime Commissioner, shoplifting outcomes have improved markedly. Funded by her office, the UK Partners Against Crime (UKPAC) app allows retailers to report offences instantly, upload CCTV footage, provide witness statements and share intelligence directly with the police. Investigations move faster. Cases stick.
In just six months, 540 retailers signed up. Sixty-six shoplifters were convicted, receiving a combined total of more than 45 years in prison. Nearly 800 hours of police time were saved – about £50,000 worth of resource – redirected back on to the streets. Hampshire now ranks among the top four forces in the country for outcomes for shoplifting victims.
These are not abstractions. They are concrete results: more investigations, more convictions, tougher sentences. And, inevitably, fewer repeat offenders. When leadership, resource and attention are applied, the problem recedes.
Shoplifting is often dismissed as “petty” crime. It is nothing of the sort. It is bound up with organised gangs exporting stolen goods abroad – powdered baby milk among them in recent years. It feeds addiction. It corrodes high streets. And, in some cases, it reflects genuine desperation.
Rehabilitation matters. Disrupting criminal networks matters. But communities decay and social trust collapses every time theft is ignored and criminals walk free. A society that tolerates everyday law-breaking invites larger breakdowns to follow.
Only zero tolerance will restore confidence. Only enforcement will reassert the moral boundary. And without that boundary, everything else – policing by consent, social cohesion, civic pride – slowly but surely unravels.
Suella
