Usdaw, the shopworkers union, key representatives from local and national government, police, and retail employers have agreed on a united front against retail crime and against violence and abuse to staff.
The union has been running its ‘Freedom from Fear’ campaign against violence and abuse to shop workers since 2003. Since then, there has been a decline in reported incidents.
However, there were still over 13,000 physical attacks in 2009 and hundreds of thousands face verbal abuse regularly.
Alan Campbell, Home Office Minister for crime reduction, told a summit meeting of interested parties about steps the Government was taking to reduce retail crime.
He said: “Crime has fallen by 36% since 1997 and the British Crime Survey shows the risk of being a victim of crime is at its lowest ever. There is however no room for complacency and we are fully supportive of USDAW’s ‘Freedom from Fear’ campaign.
“We are continuing to work with industry on a range of actions to tackle crimes against retailers.
“Keeping businesses and retail workers safe was behind the Government’s grants scheme for small businesses to help improve security and reduce opportunities for crime.
“We continue to work with the police and businesses to increase reporting of retail crime and tackle their concerns.
“Since 1997 more shoplifters are going to jail and there are tough sentencing guidelines in place for those who commit violence against shop staff.”
The meeting endorsed the minister’s view that local plans to improve community safety and to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour must involve the staff who work in local shops as well as the people who live in the houses around those shops because shops and shopworkers are a vital part of the community.
The meeting also heard about work that is being done to improve co-ordination between local retail business crime partnerships and about work by local authorities in the Manchester area to improve retail employers’ compliance with their duty to protect workers under health and safety law.
Representatives at the meeting identified a number of issues for future joint action and agreed to meet again within a few months.
Usdaw general secretary John Hannett said: “It was heartening to see the strong commitment and support from all parties present for Usdaw’s ‘Freedom from Fear’ campaign.
“Retailers and others at the meeting were quick to come forward with practical ideas to build on the progress we have already made.”
“Usdaw has agreed to carry out a nationwide audit to gather together examples of good practice and initiatives that are being pursued by individual retailers or in particular neighbourhoods.
“It was clear from the discussion that there are a lot of good things going on in some parts of the country, but there are also major gaps.
“We need some central co-ordination at the national level to bring it all together; to make sure that good standards of protection are applied in all stores, and to cement stronger relations between shop workers and neighbourhood police teams.”
Source: Usdaw
