The government has stressed its commitments to tackling shoplifting through the deployment of 13,000 officers in neighbourhoods as a House of Lords conference.

The event, entitled ‘Next steps for tackling retail crime and anti-social behaviour on high streets’, saw the minister of state for the Home Office, Lord Hanson of Flint, recommitting to making shoplifting a standalone offence, pledging to deploy 13,000 PCSOs and officers in neighbourhood areas, and end immunity for shop theft of goods under £200.

Flint also revealed that the Labour government has given Operation Pegasus additional resources to support its work.

During the conference, Labour peer baroness Hazarika said many retailers “feel like they are living in a war zone”, and asked whether there will be a specific targeting of violent criminals.

“Will the police and courts take this more seriously and consider the use of technology such as facial recognition?” she added.

Flint said yes to both points, and added that shopworkers will be protected by introducing the new offence, “because they are very often upholding the law in their shops on alcohol, tobacco and other sales”.

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Government must address unreviewed laws first

However, Liberal Democrat peer baroness Doocey said before the government introduces new legislation, it must address current laws on anti-social behaviour that “have never been thoroughly reviewed”.

“The Home Office does not even keep records on how they are being used at the moment,” she added. “So, before the government introduces these new respect orders, will [it] agree to review the current laws and how they are working, so that lessons learned could be used to inform the pilots?”

Flint said “all legislation” will be kept under review, with the “most important” focus being the issuing of 13,000 neighbourhood police.

“[They] can embed themselves more in the community, can look at what responses are required, can work with people such as shopkeepers in relation to the shop … and can work with the community to look at what could best be utilised to gain the support of the community in reducing crime.”

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Addressing poverty in shop theft

Labour peer lord Boateng added that “criminal justice measures” alone will “not deal with this problem”, with he theft of baby formula suggesting this.

“Poverty is an important issue for this government,” Hanson said. “If there are trends in the type of theft that is occurring, such as theft of baby milk, that will indicate some element of poverty-related theft. But we have to tackle poverty holistically, looking at a range of measures on social welfare, housing and the support we are giving through minimum wage increases and other things to ensure that we can help raise people out of poverty.

Crossbench peer earl of Clancarty asked what assessment the government has “made about increased shoplifting being a result of increasing poverty in our society”.

Flint responded shop theft will not be excused “under any circumstances”.

One crossbench peer added that thieves repeatedly targeting specific shops account for a “high majority” of shoplifting offences, adding that there are “three things police can do to bear down on this”.

“One is to attend the scene of an event and [assess] what has happened, rather than make a phone call,” lord Hogan-Howe said. “The second is that a linking offence is the supply of alcohol to underage people through pubs and off-licences. The third is the uncontrolled street-level dealing of drugs.” Hogan-Howe suggested the government make sure the police apply all three of these pointers.

Hanson welcomed the points and added that, in an effort to boost resources to tackle shoplifting, Operation Pegasus has just received additional resources from the government to support its work.

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