The Metropolitan Police Commissioner has called on retailers to do more to help tackle the rising problem of shoplifting. Sir Mark Rowley said some shops were failing to cooperate fully with police investigations, including refusing to share CCTV footage.
He also criticised retailers for not allowing staff time off to provide witness statements or appear in court. In some cases, Rowley claimed, corrupt security guards were even colluding with organised shoplifting gangs.
Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, he said, “They need to step up more. If they’re not prepared to roll up their sleeves as corporate victims, it’s going to be tough for us to make progress.”
However, the situation is not as black and white as Sir Mark Rowley suggests. If retailers are being asked to “roll up their sleeves”, the police must do the same. Shoplifting remains at record levels, underlining the scale of the challenge facing both sides. Across England and Wales, around 529,994 shoplifting offences were recorded in the year to June 2025, a 13 per cent increase on the previous year, according to the Office for National Statistics. This is the highest figure since current recording practices began.
In London, the problem is even more stark. In the 12 months to September 2024, the Metropolitan Police and City of London Police recorded about 80,041 shoplifting offences, up from 53,202 the previous year, an increase of roughly 50 per cent.
Discussing Sir Rowley’s comments, Amit Puntambekar, the owner of Ash’s Shop in Fenstanton, Peterborough, said, “I thought Mark’s comments were not constructive or helpful. The blame game is not to be pointed at tax paying retailers, but a lack of focus on the police not doing their jobs properly. Areas like Northampton have shown that when police focus on shoplifting they can do their job, it is incredibly discouraging as a victim of assault and shop lifting when there are no repercussions.
“I have such little faith in the police and CJS to carry out their function, and this is due to them either not prioritising or ignoring our issues. The majority of shoplifting is done by repeat, prolific offenders, the police should be investigating these individuals. Quite often there is a cascade effect, there is a lot of crime (gangs) now interlinked with shoplifting. This has been allowed to happen under the weakness of the police, and lack of thorough investigating. “
Amit has previously been subjected to physical violence while trying to stop a shoplifter, and his experience is just one of many that highlight how retail crime is increasingly spiralling out of control. Shoplifters are becoming more brazen, with incidents of aggression and violence on the rise, often fuelled by a perception that there are few real consequences.
He has explained that securing arrests is far from straightforward. “Many of the most prolific shoplifters are already known to the police,” he says, “but officers often struggle to take action unless a certain level of theft has built up over time. There has to be a threshold of offences before an arrest can be made, assuming the suspect can even be located.” Even when arrests do happen, cases are sometimes brought before the courts only to be dismissed. “It’s deeply disheartening,” he adds.
Previously, in response to mounting criticism, the government had introduced the Retail Crime Action Plan in 2023. Sir Mark Rowley has said police in London have since intensified their efforts, with figures showing a 4.4 per cent fall in shoplifting cases between April and December, alongside an 82 per cent rise in charges, fines and other sanctions.
