Policing minister Chris Philp has urged shop workers, security guards, and members of the public to use their power of citizen’s arrest to tackle shoplifters.
Retailers across the country are facing an epidemic of shoplifting and Mr. Philp, addressing a fringe meeting hosted by the Policy Exchange think tank at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester on Tuesday, said, “I would also just remind everyone that the wider public, including shop staff, and security guards do have the power of citizen’s arrest, and where it’s safe to do so I would encourage that to be used.”
Mr. Philp said: “Because if you do just let people walk in, take stuff, and walk out without proper challenge, including potentially a physical challenge, then ... it will just escalate and while I want a faster and better police response, they can’t be everywhere.”
‘Dangerous and Irresponsible’
But Mr. Philp’s comments were immediately criticised by the leader of the shopworkers’ union, who called it “dangerous and irresponsible” rhetoric.Under section 3 of the Criminal Law Act 1967, a member of the public can “use such force as is reasonable in the circumstances in the prevention of crime, or in effecting or assisting in the lawful arrest of offenders or suspected offenders or of persons unlawfully at large.”
Earlier in his speech on Tuesday, Mr. Philp said: “Crime, theft, and robbery in general are on a downward trajectory. According to the crime survey for England and Wales, since 2010 theft is down by about 51 percent and robbery is down by about 54 percent.”
“But there is a specific and very serious issue with retail ... and that is a very, very deep concern to me as the police and crime minister,” he added.
Mr. Philp said it was not just about the £1 billion a year of goods being stolen.
“It’s about the assaults on retail workers who are being physically abused by shoplifters ... on a daily basis. It’s about the atmosphere of disorder, which it tends to create, and the risk of escalation, which is really what worries me the most,” he added.
Mr. Philp pointed to some cities on the west coast of the United States, like San Francisco, where “a failure by police in those cities to hit this crime hard and early has led to escalation.”
‘Shops Are the Lifeblood of Our Communities’
Mr. Philp said it was essential that Britain “clamped down hard and early” on shoplifting and he said: “Shops are the lifeblood of our communities ... shopkeepers are struggling to make ends meet ... and it’s vital ... that we do everything we can to protect them, particularly in light of the fact that some of this is essentially organised looting.”But the general secretary of the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW), Paddy Lillis, said: “This kind of ‘DIY policing’ is dangerous and irresponsible. The minister needs to rethink his strategy, invest in putting more police on the beat, and introduce a standalone offence for assaulting a shopworker, like they have in Scotland.”
Mr. Lillis said: “This week we joined with retail employers in calling for action to tackle growing retail crime, but this passing of responsibility to shopworkers and shoppers is most certainly not the answer.”
“USDAW’s very clear advice to our members is not to intervene or try to detain a shoplifter, their priority is to keep themselves safe,” he added.
Mr. Lillis said: “It demonstrates a complete lack of understanding by the minister to suggest staff should be doing the job of the police. We are even more alarmed that he suggests the public should be performing citizen’s arrests in stores.”
