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Rise in violence against retail staff
News Article Published:
Wednesday, 31 October 2007 Category:
Retail
Violent acts against retail staff have increased by 50 per cent in the past year, according to a new survey published yesterday (October 30th).
The British Retail Consortium's (BRC) 2007 Retail Crime Survey also revealed that the number of threats of violence doubled, while the number of incidents per employee rose by a third.
Following the results the BRC has called for action from both the government and police to combat the problem, which may affect university leavers looking to pursue graduate retail careers.
BRC director general, Kevin Hawkins, said: "Last year shop staff were subjected to around half a million incidents of abuse or violence in their work places and retailers clocked up even greater losses to theft. It's clear the current approach is not working.
"The government and law enforcers must stop believing retail crime as victimless and committed by harmless petty criminals," he added.
While this year's figures saw an increase in violence against retail staff, the results of the same survey in 2006 revealed a 50 per cent fall in the number of violent incidents experienced by retail staff.