Opinion: Retail Crime Has Become a National Disgrace, And the Crime and Policing Act Must Now Be Enforced With Vigour

There comes a moment when the pretence has to stop. Retail crime in Britain isn’t a nuisance anymore, it’s a national embarrassment. A daily assault on workers, businesses, and the communities they serve. And let’s correct our language: “Shoplifting” suggests mischief. This is theft.

Jason Tarry, chairman of John Lewis, said as much in The Telegraph yesterday, joining a growing chorus of retail leaders who’ve finally had enough. They’re speaking plainly about the scale of the problem and the failure of the very systems designed to contain it.

Tarry doesn’t mince his words: in 35 years in retail, he’s never seen crime at the levels he sees on the shop floor today. He gets daily reports of abuse, organised gangs, and serious physical attacks on John Lewis and Waitrose colleagues. Sainsbury’s CEO Simon Roberts echoed the same concerns in The Times earlier this week.

And yet, for years, we’ve normalised the abnormal. We’ve allowed theft to be reframed as cheeky opportunism, violence against staff as “part of the job,” and the lack of prosecutions as an unfortunate by‑product of “limited resources.” The result is exactly what you’d expect: emboldened offenders, traumatised workers, and a justice system that seems to have quietly stepped back from its most basic duties.

The new Crime and Policing Act is meant to change that. But laws only matter if someone enforces them. And that’s the question hanging in the air: do we actually have the will?

The Myth of the “Soft Touch” Retailer

One of the most corrosive narratives in recent years is the idea that retailers are somehow complicit, that they’ve become, in Tarry’s words, “a soft touch,” leaving the door wide open for criminals. He rejects that outright. Retailers have been forced to spend millions on guards, tagging, barriers, CCTV, and body‑worn cameras just to keep people safe and shelves stocked.

Money that could have gone into lower prices, better stores, or investing in colleagues is instead being funnelled into basic protection.

And when retailers do act, they’re criticised anyway. The public loves a have‑a‑go hero, but Tarry is right to warn that this is not a strategy. Staff intervene only when trained and only when safe. No employer wants to make the call to a family saying their loved one has been hurt - or worse - trying to stop someone stealing Easter eggs. It used to be blades and batteries. Now it’s chocolate.

The answer isn’t vigilantes. The answer is a justice system that actually functions.

The Crime and Policing Act Must Be Enforced Relentlessly

The Act finally acknowledges what retailers have been shouting for years. It creates a standalone offence for assaulting a retail worker. It removes the £200 threshold that effectively told offenders low‑value theft wasn’t worth investigating. It gives courts clearer tools, including Criminal Behaviour Orders, to deal with repeat offenders.

All good steps. But meaningless if police forces and courts treat them as optional extras.

Tarry calls for courts to use the sentencing tools available to them, consistently. If offenders believe consequences are real, behaviour changes. If they don’t, nothing changes.

The government has passed the law. Now it must ensure it is enforced - relentlessly.

A Collective Mission

Tarry talks about a “bolder, collective approach” between retailers, police, and the courts. Collaboration matters. Retailers can share intelligence, invest in tech, and support police operations. John Lewis already does this, hosting police surgeries in stores and sharing CCTV and body‑cam evidence to help track prolific offenders.

But collaboration is not enforcement. Retailers can’t arrest. They can’t prosecute. They can’t sentence. They can’t compel action from overstretched forces or inconsistent courts.

That’s the heart of the problem.

Technology Will Play a Role And the Public Needs to Understand Why

Tarry is open about the need for more advanced tools, including facial recognition. He acknowledges the concerns but points out that systems are improving to target prolific offenders, ignore bystanders, and reduce human error.

This isn’t about surveillance for the sake of it. It’s about protecting workers who are being punched, spat at, threatened, and abused. It’s about stopping organised gangs who treat high‑street stores like free‑to‑raid warehouses. It’s about restoring order where chaos has been allowed to take root.

If the public wants safer shops, we need to have this conversation honestly.

Enough Is Enough

The Crime and Policing Act is now law. The tools exist. The evidence is overwhelming. Public sentiment is clear.

What’s missing is enforcement.

Because nothing on a shelf is worth more than the safety of frontline workers. And protecting them should never be up for debate.