The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has said that reform should be made to shoplifting penalties but that they should not but abandoned, after a ten minute rule bill was introduced in Parliament.
Under the bill, introduced by Conservative MP Anne McIntosh, theft would be removed from the Act that police use to give out penalty notices.
But the BRC said that while drawing attention to the issue should be welcomed, changes should be made to the Criminal Justice and Police Act rather than scrapping it altogether.
“Fixed penalties can be appropriate for first time offences but it’s clear some offenders are receiving them repeatedly. Reform is needed but that means tackling inconsistency and properly enforcing the guidelines for their use,” said director general at the BRC Stephen Robertson.
He added that removing theft from the offences used on the bill will lead to a greater amount of “confusion” among retailers if there are no alternatives.
Guidance is set to be unveiled by the BRC in its Retail Crime Survey on how best the police can tackle the issue.
Vice president of Checkpoint Systems NCE Neil Matthews recently said that shopkeepers should use technology in a bid to cut down shoplifting.
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