Ministers are being urged to make retail crime a higher priority after new figures revealed an increase in threats and acts of violence against shop workers.
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said incidents of physical violence against store staff have risen by 50% over the past year, while threats of violence have more than doubled during the same period. Incidents per store also shot up by 18% with verbal abuse episodes showing a 6% hike.
Supported by the BRC, the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW) will today present the findings to home secretary Jacqui Smith during a fringe meeting at the Labour Party conference in Bournemouth.
Both organisations are calling on Smith to push for police and local authorities to work together against retail crime and give it the same level of attention as directed toward crime and anti-social behaviour in residential neighbourhoods.
Kevin Hawkins, BRC director general, said: "These figures show the current approach to shop crime is not working. Last year retail employees were subjected to around half a million incidents of abuse or violence in the work place.
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