SGF publish annual Crime Report & Safer Business Guide 2023/24
Published at our annual Crime & Wellbeing Seminar at Hampden Park, which took place on 14th March, our Crime Report & Safer Business Guide 2023/24 highlights the escalation in retail crime over the past year.
Findings in the report show that the average cost of retail crime has increased to £12,164 per store in 2023/24. As an average across the 763 stores which took part in the SGF annual crime survey. Scaling up the sample to represent all 5,171 convenience stores in Scotland, this accounts for an annual cost of approximately £62.9million.
Other findings include:
100% of convenience retailers agree that shoplifting has increased in the past year, while 99.5% say that shoplifting is now a daily occurrence.
More than nine out of every ten stores report that violence against staff occurs at least once a week and Hate Crime once a month (92.8% and 92.7% respectively).
Over half (56.9%) of respondents also report experiencing daily incidents of abuse when refusing a sale or when asking for proof of age.
Analysis of the data also reveals a fall in confidence in the Scottish Justice System to tackle the growing problem of retail crime. With, for example, over two thirds of respondents saying they are either unlikely or very unlikely to report shoplifting incidents to the police.
The SGF Crime Report & Safer Business Guide 2023/24 provides a range of resources and materials, including crime case studies from Retailers Against Crime and advice for retailers on conflict management, in-store security measures and cybercrime.
Download the SGF Crime Report & Safer Business Guide 2023/24 at (from 14th March 2024): www.sgfscot.co.uk/publications/sgf-scottish-crime-report-amp-safer-business-guide-202324