Retail theft: The growing frontline threat in a cost-of-living squeeze?

The 2022 Crime Report of the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) shows that, in the past year, 89% of store staff working alone faced abuse in their job, with 35,000 incidents of violence and over 16,000 incidents including the use of a weapon, of which 9% resulted in injury. In addition, as the economic situation and cost of living crisis continues to worsen, many experts predict a rise in retail crime, such as shoplifting, will hit the industry hard.

Here, Hunter Seymour examines the issues at hand, highlighting varying points of view in dealing with perpetrators and the methods – from AI behavioral analysis through to smart tagging criminals – now available to retail security managers and staff to prevent their stores from being targeted. Read the full article here.