Silent Crime: Shoplifting and the impact of thefts on businesses

National World Editor in Chief talks about Shoplifting and the impact of thefts on businesses

Transcript

00:00At National World, across all our newspapers and websites, right across the country, we've

00:05launched a campaign called Silent Crimes. The aim of it is to give victims a voice and

00:11to raise the profile of the massive number of crimes that take place every day that we

00:16either just put up with, put up with to the point where we don't even report them, or

00:21we report them and we know in our hearts that nothing gets done. So let's talk about at

00:27work. I mean, I don't know about you, but my local co-op, they've got the little security

00:32tags on everything from a piece of chicken to a jar of coffee because shoplifting is

00:39just so prolific there. And every time I go in, it feels like you don't feel it's safe

00:45to be in the co-op. So imagine what it's like to work there. The amount of people I know

00:50who've had tools stolen, people who need their tools for work, they report them for insurance

00:55purposes, but not always, depends what it is, and sometimes they can't work for days.

01:00Laptops and mobile phones that get snatched, that get damaged. And again, they're only

01:05reported to insurance, sometimes they're not reported at all. And we all just put up with

01:10these things. They're not small things. They might be small on the scale of crime. God

01:16forbid any of us are impacted by something like a murder or a rape. I understand it's

01:21not on that scale, but actually it's an epidemic that is having a huge impact on the country

01:26about where we feel safe. And something does need to be done. So what we want is people

01:31to get in touch and tell us about the abuse that's shouted at you, about the attack that

01:36it probably wasn't worth reporting to police about something that was stolen. Those things

01:40that impact on your life, get it off your chest. Tell us what we want to do is pass

01:44on the message to the government that this isn't necessarily the police's fault. It's

01:48not necessarily the Crown Prosecution's fault, but it is a failing overall and the institutions

01:53need to do something to make sure that silent crime isn't the huge problem that it is today,

02:00tomorrow.