'Need not greed' is fuelling shoplifting

Mar 31 2009 by Peter McCusker, The Journal

HARD-PRESSED retailers in the North East are being hit by a big rise in shoplifting as the recession is forcing people to steal for "need, not greed".

The region’s retail crime partnership, a coalition of store firm bosses and police, has told The Journal that the cost of the surge in shoplifting to the region’s businesses will total more than £50m in the coming year.

It has revealed that shoplifting rose by 22% in September to December 2008 across Northumbria, Durham and Cleveland Police areas compared with the same period in 2007. In total, 6,627 shoplifting incidents were recorded by police in the final four months of 2008 in the North East, compared with 5,454 in 2007.

North East Retail Crime Partnership (NERCP) manager Dawn Robinson said: “The credit crunch is already bad news for retailers but it now looks like the recession could also be fuelling a rise in shop crime.

“Up until September last year, when the economic downturn started to bite, shop theft had been steadily falling in the North East. Now this trend has reversed.”

She said anecdotal evidence from retail members of the NERCP suggested it was “not just greed, but need” which was now driving some people to steal from shops.