Source · Select Committees · Home Affairs Committee
Recommendation 10
10
Accepted in Part
Paragraph: 70
Police forces inadequately record data on assaults against shopworkers and retail crime.
Recommendation
We welcome the Government’s work to provide better guidance and support for retail workers on reporting retail crime. However, it is deeply disappointing that the main thrust of the Government’s response to shopworkers, who have lost confidence in the police response, is to demand increased reporting to the police without also requiring the police to improve its response. It is a serious problem that police forces could not even tell us the scale of reported assaults against shopworkers because they do not currently record the data in a way that allows it to be measured, nor do they keep effective records regarding retail or business crime. We agree that you cannot manage what you do not measure. The police must play their part in ensuring the scale and nature of the problem is fully understood by improving their own crime recording practices.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government agrees that incidents must be reported and acknowledges current data under-reporting. It commits to working with the National Business Crime Centre to consider options for adding more granularity to crime recording, but notes consultation will be needed to assess the administrative burden on police forces.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
70
Government Response
Accepted in Part
HM Government · verbatim extract
Accepted in Part
As a starting point, we recommend that it is made mandatory to add a “business crime flag” to offences committed in a retail environment, including assaults on retail workers. This simple step would give an important early indication of the scale of the problem and allow police forces better to understand patterns of local crime and the risks shopworkers face. (Paragraph 71)
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