Co-op puts £2 items in anti-shoplifting security boxes
Shoplifting offences increased by 37 percent in 2023 - and a Co-op store in Cambridge is having to box items that cost less than a fiver to deter thieves.
Numerous products - including cheese and £2.00 chocolate bars - are being kept in security boxes at a supermarket in a UK city.
The GPS-protected cases were spotted on shelves yesterday earlier this week a Co-Op in Cambridge. In a bid to ramp up anti-theft measures, the supermarket has locked away meats, cheeses, chocolate, cleaning products and baby formula - with some items costing as little as £2.00.
Photos show Cadbury's chocolate bars safely protected by the boxes, whilst £3.00 blocks of cheese are also seen in cases. Bottles of fabric softener and packs of chicken thighs have also been locked up - retailing at just £2.00 and £4.25 respectively.
The images also show four rows of various types of meat - including steaks and sausages - in cases to deter shoplifters. The Cambridge shop has additionally securely protected multiple shelves of baby formula, coffee and dishwasher tablets.
The cases come with a caution warning shoppers that they will need to be removed at checkout before leaving the store, and shoplifters will be prosecuted. According to the ONS, shoplifting offences increased by 37 percent in 2023, to 430,104 offences, the highest figure since current police recordings began in 2003.
Back in April, Sir Keir Starmer promised retail workers he would crack down on crime and reverse what he called a Tory “Shoplifter’s Charter” in a speech. The Labour leader spoke at retail union Usdaw’s conference in Blackpool, where voters were due to go to the polls in a by-election.
Sir Keir said: “Today I am putting shoplifters on notice. You might get away with it under this weak Tory Government. But if Labour takes power, we won’t stand by while crime takes over our streets."
Home Office minister Chris Philp described Starmer's announcement as a “tired and toothless tweak around the edges”. He added: “This month, Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives announced that serial or abusive shoplifters will face tougher punishments and we are making assault of a retail worker a standalone criminal offence.
“We have asked the police to take a zero-tolerance approach to shoplifting, and theft under the value of £200 is a criminal offence which can result in a custodial sentence of up to six months.”
It came after figures released in April showed the number of shoplifting offences recorded by police in England and Wales had risen to the highest level in 20 years.
Of the 408,690 police-recorded shoplifting offences in England and Wales in 2023 that were assigned an outcome, 16 percent (65,521) were charged or summonsed while 58 percent (238,794) of the investigations were closed with no suspect identified, according to PA news agency analysis of Home Office data. This compares with 15 percent and 55 percent respectively in 2022.
