Higher cost of crime hit shops
ROBBERY, attacks on staff and verbal abuse all jumped in 2011, according to the British Retail Consortium’s (BRC) annual crime survey published today.
The overall cost of retail crime jumped 31 per cent to £1.4bn on the year and the number of robberies increased by 20 per cent. An average robbery now costs businesses £989, up 17 per cent on 2010.
“Retailers have made significant investment to protect their staff, stock and premises from opportunistic crime,” resulting in low numbers of many crimes, said the BRC’s Stephen Robertson.
“What is left is a core of more serious and organised criminals.”