Pharmacy shoplifting falls while cost of crime rises
Crime investigation Shoplifting from UK pharmacies declined in 2011, a C+D investigation has suggested, but the cost of the crime to businesses is continuing to climb.
Shoplifting from UK pharmacies fell in 2011, a C+D investigation has suggested, but the cost of the crime to businesses is continuing to climb.
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Across the retail sector as a whole, the BRC found the average cost of a theft in 2010-11 was £85.50 – up from £70.44 in 2009-10 |
 More from the C+D crime investigation |
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The number of shoplifting incidents reported to the police fell by 4 per cent across UK pharmacies last year.* There were 13,211 reports of shoplifting in pharmacies across 40 constabularies in 2011, freedom of information requests by C+D found – down from 13,699 in 2010. While individual constabularies saw increases of up to 135 per cent, England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales all reported overall nationwide decreases, with the biggest drop – 11 per cent – seen in Northern Ireland. |
Staying ahead of shopliftersBut while industry experts welcomed the news, they warned that shoplifting still had a substantial impact on the sector.
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said that, although its 2011 crime survey found the lowest level of retail shoplifting in seven years, thefts were becoming "more targeted and serious".
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Top 5 increases in shoplifting +135% Gwent +59% Suffolk +29% City of London +28% Gloucestershire +25% Hertfordshire |
Across the retail sector as a whole, the BRC found the average cost of a theft in 2010-11 was £85.50 – up from £70.44 in 2009-10. If this average applied to pharmacy thefts, the 2011 reported incidents would have cost the sector £1.13 million in total. "Even though the number of incidents has fallen, costs are still going up," said a BRC spokesperson. "What's happening is there s more targeted theft and more serious and organised crime involved. There was also an increase in robbery and abuse, which is completely unacceptable." The BRC also highlighted that retailers reported less than half of all shoplifting incidents to the police, making it difficult to estimate the true cost and prevalence of the crime. And pharmacy leaders suggested that the lower police figures for shoplifting in 2011 could be down to even fewer pharmacies reporting the thefts than previously. |
"Shoplifting is a difficult one because you only know what's reported," said Numark managing director John D'Arcy. "Particularly when there's a financial crisis and times are hard, people will try to steal things. It's just about being aware of it and doing what you can to minimise it."
Avicenna CEO Salim Jetha also doubted that shoplifting had fallen, revealing that some members were reporting "huge increases". "The economic climate is making a lot of people into petty thieves," he told C+D.
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Top 5 decreases in shoplifting -50% Cumbria -32% Grampian -30% Tayside -27% Central Scotland -25% West Mercia |
"Also, some people don't even recognise shoplifting when it's happened," Mr Jetha argued. "The economy is forcing pharmacies to reduce their staff and the result is that it can affect the security of the premises." Graham Phillips, owner of Manor Pharmacy Group (Wheathampstead) Ltd in Hertfordshire, said he had fallen victim to high-value shoplifting. In his police constabulary of Hertfordshire, shoplifting rose by 25 per cent in 2011 – and he had noticed the increase in theft, he said. C+D's crime investigation was carried out through freedom of information requests to all 52 geographical police constabularies in the UK. Forty-four constabularies responded to the request; those that didn't were Durham, Northamptonshire, Surrey, Warwickshire, Northern and Dyfed Powys; Hampshire, North Yorkshire declined to provide the information as it was not available in a "retrievable format". |
For all the latest from the C+D crime investigation including an interactive map, timeline, views and analysis and shoplifting case studies from Lothian Borders, Devon and Cornwall, Metropolitan and Kent, head to chemistanddruggist.co.uk/crime.
*Comparison data is taken from the 40 police constabularies that gave C+D data for both 2010 and 2011
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