{"id":1277604,"date":"2023-09-21T18:00:32","date_gmt":"2023-09-21T17:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.businesstelegraph.co.uk\/co-op-boss-urges-police-to-take-shoplifting-more-seriously-after-33m-cost\/"},"modified":"2023-09-21T18:00:32","modified_gmt":"2023-09-21T17:00:32","slug":"co-op-boss-urges-police-to-take-shoplifting-more-seriously-after-33m-cost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.businesstelegraph.co.uk\/co-op-boss-urges-police-to-take-shoplifting-more-seriously-after-33m-cost\/","title":{"rendered":"Co-op boss urges police to take shoplifting more seriously after \u00a333m cost"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- newscabal uk text -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:inline-block;width:728px;height:90px\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-8162386273903324\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3688094655\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"dcr-1kas69x\">The boss of the Co-op grocery chain has called on the police to take shoplifting more seriously and says he is frustrated by a lack of action against thieves who cost the business \u00a333m in the first half of 2023.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1kas69x\">Matt Hood, the chain\u2019s managing director, said shoplifting was becoming a major issue for UK comm<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1kas69x\">unities with a rise in what he called \u201cshop looting\u201d, where large amounts are stolen by organised gangs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1kas69x\">The Co-op has seen crime, shoplifting and antisocial behaviour jump 35% year-on-year, with more than 175,000 incidents recorded in the first six months of this year \u2013 or almost 1,000 incidents every day.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"83169ac2-f50d-40b8-ac42-833a0e02fb2b\" data-spacefinder-role=\"richLink\" data-spacefinder-type=\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.RichLinkBlockElement\" class=\" dcr-11ra563\"><gu-island name=\"RichLinkComponent\" deferuntil=\"idle\" props=\"{&quot;richLinkIndex&quot;:4,&quot;element&quot;:{&quot;_type&quot;:&quot;model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.RichLinkBlockElement&quot;,&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/uk-news\/2023\/sep\/15\/its-organised-looting-uk-in-grip-of-a-shoplifting-epidemic-say-store-owners&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;\u2018It\u2019s organised looting\u2019: UK in grip of a shoplifting epidemic, say store owners&quot;,&quot;prefix&quot;:&quot;Related: &quot;,&quot;role&quot;:&quot;richLink&quot;,&quot;elementId&quot;:&quot;83169ac2-f50d-40b8-ac42-833a0e02fb2b&quot;},&quot;ajaxUrl&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/api.nextgen.guardianapps.co.uk&quot;,&quot;format&quot;:{&quot;display&quot;:0,&quot;theme&quot;:0,&quot;design&quot;:0}}\" config=\"{&quot;renderingTarget&quot;:&quot;Web&quot;}\"\/><\/figure>\n<p class=\"dcr-1kas69x\">Hood said the perception that shoplifting was a response to the cost of living crisis had given rise to the idea that it was a \u201cconsequence-less crime\u201d by those in need and the lack of a proper policing response had seen it \u201cgrow as an epidemic in the UK\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1kas69x\">While historically thieves have targeted certain products such as cigarettes, he said they were now stealing all kinds of items from confectionary to meat and health and beauty products.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1kas69x\">Hood said the Co-op had invested \u00a3200m in body cameras for staff, CCTV and other measures to keep employees safe as the group was losing stock worth more than \u00a370m a year. He said he was becoming \u201cincreasingly frustrated\u201d about police inaction, claiming they failed to respond to 71% of reports of serious crimes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1kas69x\">\u201cWe need police to be on the front foot in helping us retailers deal with persistent offenders,\u201d Hood said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1kas69x\">Fashion and homewares retailer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/business\/2023\/sep\/21\/next-raises-profit-outlook-again-after-sales-boom\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Next<\/a>\u2019s boss, Simon Wolfson, said on Thursday it had also seen a rise in shoplifting which had hit profit margins by 0.2%. Last week, John Lewis said it had suffered a \u00a312m year-on-year increase in theft with its chair, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/uk-news\/2023\/sep\/15\/its-organised-looting-uk-in-grip-of-a-shoplifting-epidemic-say-store-owners\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Sharon White, calling shoplifting an \u201cepidemic\u201d.<\/a> However, Wolfson played down the impact, saying it should not be exaggerated.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1kas69x\">The Co-operative Group, which owns funerals, insurance and legal advisory businesses as well as a chain of food stores, revealed it had fallen \u00a333m into the red in the six months to 1 July after sales fell just under 4% to \u00a35.4bn. The company said most of the fall was down to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/business\/2022\/oct\/31\/co-op-sale-petrol-forecourts-asda-stores-prices-debt\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">the \u00a3600m sale of its petrol forecourts business to Asda<\/a>, with underlying sales at its food stores up 6%.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1kas69x\">The company expects to make a \u201cmodest loss\u201d for the full year but said it had reduced debts and improved cashflow, enabling it to invest \u00a370m in cutting prices for shoppers in the second half of the year, on top of \u00a320m in the first half.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1kas69x\">Hood said the investment was required as \u2013 while the price of commodities including edible oils, wheat and dairy were falling \u2013 the wholesale cost of most other food stuffs continued to rise with an \u201cincredible amount of stickiness\u201d on inflation in core foods.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block; text-align:center;\"\r\n     data-ad-layout=\"in-article\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-8162386273903324\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7859258044\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/uk-news\/2023\/sep\/21\/co-op-boss-urges-police-to-take-shoplifting-more-seriously-after-33m-cost\">READ SOURCE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The boss of the Co-op grocery chain has called on the police to take shoplifting more seriously and says he is frustrated by a lack of action against thieves who cost the business \u00a333m in the first half of 2023. Matt Hood, the chain\u2019s managing director, said shoplifting was becoming a major issue for UK [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oct_exclude_from_cache":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1277604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-retail"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Co-op boss urges police to take shoplifting more seriously after \u00a333m cost - Business Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/uk-news\/2023\/sep\/21\/co-op-boss-urges-police-to-take-shoplifting-more-seriously-after-33m-cost\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Co-op boss urges police to take shoplifting more seriously after \u00a333m cost - Business Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The boss of the Co-op grocery chain has called on the police to take shoplifting more seriously and says he is frustrated by a lack of action against thieves who cost the business \u00a333m in the first half of 2023. 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