Crime against retail is ‘unprecedented’; we know that because the Government’s Tackling Retail Crime Together strategy, featured in the August edition of Professional Security Magazine, says so. One response by retailers has been to lobby Government; hence the strategy, and the Home Office’s ShopKind campaign, and Safer Streets Summer scheme of police patrolling. However, retailers can make most difference – and respond to staff fears – by equipping staff, general floor workers and security officers alike.
The white goods chain store Currys for example points to its largest ever safety investment programme. In July it announced the roll-out of the crime reporting tool Auror to all its UK and Ireland stores. Since Auror, a New Zealand-based crime reporting software firm, launched in the UK in 2022 it has Devon & Cornwall Police, and Holland & Barrett among its high street end users, besides big names in the United States and Australasia. Lindsay Haselhurst, the retailer’s chief operating officer, said: “This technology has already helped us identify repeat offenders, prevent stock loss, and support police investigations more effectively. By transforming how we capture and share intelligence, we’re building a smarter, faster, and more unified approach to tackling retail crime.”
The retailer ran an internal ‘Safety Week’ to tell staff about what was coming for their safety, while asking them to share their views. The tech includes upgraded specification Public Display Monitors in high-risk stores, trialling and rolling out new approaches to product security (such as ‘laptop clamps’ on display stands), and spending more on guarding and surveillance. Headsets for all staff were trialled across selected stores and rolled out to all stores by the end of May.
Headsets are in use elsewhere, for example at the Co-op and Iceland. Retailers note that wearers, being able to talk to their colleagues out of earshot makes them feel safer, especially when facing shoplifters. Currys also points to the gain in the ‘in-store experience’ for customers, who can request assistance by clicking a button at the store front that notifies the shop floor team via their headsets. Lindsay Haselhurst said: “UK retail crime statistics make for difficult reading, as incidents of shoplifting and aggression against retail workers continue to climb. These are not victimless crimes; the worst cases leave colleagues and customers injured and traumatised. That’s why I’m really pleased to roll out a number of new programmes to increase colleague and product security in our stores, and welcome the new Crime and Policing Bill legislation. However, we know there is much more to be done and this must be a collaborative effort with all involved, including local police forces and Government.”
Union view
At the shop workers’ trade union Usdaw, the new general secretary Joanne Thomas has talked up what the Labour Government is doing and proposing, such as ‘its landmark goal to halve violence against women and girls in a decade’.
She said: “Furthermore, Labour’s Employment Rights Bill will, for the first time ever, require employers to create and maintain workplaces free from harassment by customers and other third parties. This has been a long-standing demand from Usdaw, but has attracted loud and persistent opposition from Conservative and Reform parliamentarians, who wrongly describe it as a ‘ban on banter’. My view is if you don’t know the difference between banter and harassment, then you’re probably part of the problem.
“We know that women workers who interact with the public as part of their job are at a far greater risk of experiencing abuse and harassment. Young women are at particular risk and are often being left to deal with harassment from customers on their own. They can be afraid to challenge the behaviour because this puts them in a very vulnerable position, especially if the customer complains.
“Studies show that gender-based violence, of which sexual harassment is a part, hugely affects women and girls and can lead to negative psychological, emotional or physical health impacts. Labour’s new legislation banning third-party harassment is long overdue and very welcome. Companies must now make sure managers get the training they need to understand their legal duties and to take a proactive approach to putting an end to sexual harassment in the workplace, and that is best delivered by working together with a trade union.”
More in the September edition of Professional Security Magazine.
