If you haven’t seen the report here is the link, the headlines from the 2022 report highlight the significant impact crime is having on the retail industry and why additional security measures are being heavily invested in to help protect staff and stock.

Currently for every £1 lost to crime £1 is now spent on crime prevention!

There are 1301 violent or abusive incidents a day (during the survey period 20/21) this tripled from the previous year of 405 per day. The report states that as retail outlets closed during the lockdown there was a concentration of abuse in fewer stores, having a far more dramatic impact on the retailers affected.

For every one thousand employees, there were 115 incidents so 15% of all retail staff were subjected to abuse during that period and although CCTV can capture the evidence it cannot stop it from happening as a manned guard can. Sadly only 4% of incidents of violence or abuse ended in prosecution, so although millions of pounds are spent on security systems, the rate of prosecutions remains incredibly low. On top of this, confidence is also at an all-time low in police response with 60% of retailers stating response rates being poor or very poor.

The total financial cost to the sector is rocketing and sat at £1.5bilion, this includes the cost of crime prevention as well as the actual losses due to crime.

The financial impact on small retails has risen in the last year to an average spend of £5000 per store, with manned security being the top investment, followed by CCTV and intruder alarms. Manned security will act as a prevention to violent crimes against individuals and the CCTV and intruder alarms to protect the stores when they are closed overnight.

 

In a recent article in the Grocery Gazette, both Sainsburys and Tesco’s reported they have been providing staff, particularly they named petrol station staff with body cameras to help staff feel safer, along with investment in body cameras for security staff. Tesco reported a downturn of 12% in physical assaults on staff which they are contributing to the investment in body cameras.

If you are looking for a recruiter to support your business in attracting licenced and experienced security staff, we have a security division waiting for your call.