UK pharmacies saw a fall in theft, robberies and violence last year, with shoplifting still accounting for most crime in the sector, C+D can reveal. 

The number of robberies, burglaries and attempted burglaries in pharmacies dropped slightly from 539 in 2011 to 498 last year, according to C+D's crime investigation. Incidents of violent crime also fell with 356 cases reported in 2012 compared with 372 in 2011.   

For the third year running, shoplifting accounted for more than 80 per cent of pharmacy crime, with 13,249 cases reported to the police in 2012	More from C+D's crime special Crime map 2013 C+D reveals findings of pharmacy crime probe Crime investigation blog: Data check
	For the third year running, shoplifting accounted for more than 80 per cent of crime, with 13,249 cases reported to the police in 2012 – a slight drop from the 13,322 cases in 2011 and 13,699 in 2010 – according to data collected through Freedom of Information requests.

C+D asked 46 police forces for details on reported crimes in 2012 and a breakdown of incidents of shoplifting, robberies and burglaries and violent crime. We compared the data with 2010 and 2011 figures.     

Pharmacists told C+D that the fall could be down to even fewer pharmacies reporting thefts than before. Some preferred to take a pragmatic approach to offenders, particularly if they were battling drug abuse, they said.

Shoplifting was "absolutely not reported," said Belfast contractor Terry Maguire. A pharmacist in England who wished to remain anonymous agreed he would not always report shoplifting. He would instead contact the culprit's parents or have a meeting with the drugs team, he said, adding: "Do you want to ruin someone's life over that? It's a judgement call."

Levels of crime in Wales and Scotland continued to fall for a third year and England saw a one per cent increase in 2012, following a fall the previous year. In Northern Ireland, crime shot up by 16 per cent from 2011 and the number of violent crimes doubled from 14 cases in 2010 to 28 in 2012.

Individual police forces saw increases of up to 288 per cent, the biggest in Essex where crime incidents shot up from 17 in 2011 to 66 in 2012. Although London and the Thames Valley area saw a slight drop, they still were – along with Sussex and West Yorkshire – the crime hotspots of England.

Cumbria reported one of the lowest levels of crime in England, with 23 cases in 2012. Cambridge saw a drop from 253 cases in 2011 to 67 cases in 2012.

Kent reported one of the highest levels of crime in pharmacies, with 599 cases reported in 2012. Kent LPC chief executive Michael Keen suggested this could be because of its proximity to the M25 and M26, which allowed thieves to "travel outside of their normal areas of operation".

Mr Keen suggested that pharmacy was experiencing the same impact from shoplifting as other retail sectors, and that until crime was "treated more seriously and the penalties reflect the true impact of theft on prices of products sold and their reduced availability to the public", it would continue to rise in his area.

Hampshire and the West Midlands police authorities were unable to provide data and Durham only provided partial data.

Find out whether your area experienced a fall or rise in robberies and shoplifting on our interactive map.

C+D is revealing the results of its 2012 crime investigation all this week in news articles and blog posts. Read the latest blog post here.

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