Skyrocketing Retail Crime: Is the Cost of Living to Blame?

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With increasing levels of shoplifting and retail crime rates at a new all-time high, it might be easy to point the finger at inflation and the ever-increasing cost of living.

But Retail NZ says most people don’t fly to eat or stay above water.

Retail crime rates have increased over the past four years. Reports of theft have declined slightly in 2020, which may be related to strict Covid-19 lockdowns during that year, but overall have skyrocketed with thousands of additional cases recorded between 2020 and 2021, then from 2021 to 2022.

Police data shows that shoplifting crimes (theft, burglary and theft) hit a new high last year, with police receiving 241,638 reports.

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That’s up nearly 41,000 from the 2021 total of 208,445.

In 2020, police received 186,142 reports of robberies, burglaries and thefts.

The rise in retail crime was the result of a bigger resale market, with thieves stealing on demand and selling goods, said Retail NZ chief executive Greg Harford.

Low-level retail crime often slipped under the police radar because it was difficult to prosecute, he said. He would like to see a new, simpler system introduced to target offenders and said it was the only way to bring those rates down.

Stuff

Police received 176,732 reports of theft last year.

We’re certainly hearing that theft is on the rise and, as always, with it comes more aggression, violence and meanness towards staff, Harford said.

This is a long term trend driven basically by the fact that people believe that if they steal things they won’t get caught and then they can resell those items to generate a profit for themselves- same.

The increases seen, most of it is very organized. These are gangs of people who steal on command; it is not people who steal for food.

Retail NZ had been pushing for years for a police crime unit, which was set up last year. But the organization would like to see more resources set aside for this unit and the government to come to the party with a sanctions regime.

A fine similar in style to a low-level retail misdemeanor ticket that sent the message that there would be consequences for even stealing something small would lower delinquency almost overnight, he said.

Prosecuting people for low-level theft was a long and costly process for everyone involved, Harford said.

We also need a public education campaign that educates offenders and gets everyone on the same page.

Harford said police tended to have other priorities, so offenders knew they could get away with it.

Provided

Greg Harford says some sort of speeding fine for low-level retail offenses would be an effective deterrent.

New Zealand is believed to lose over $1 billion annually to shoplifting and retail crime. This is based on research conducted by Massey University almost five years ago.

That number is expected to be much higher now given the rammings and costlier crimes that have plagued dairies, bottle shops and other small retailers in recent years.

Last year, the police received 176,732 theft reports alone. This increased by 31,674 additional reports from the total of 145,058 in 2021.

In 2020, the police received 124,903 reports.

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