Report every crime, PCC tells retailers

Gangs of young people who are shoplifting and threatening shop workers are posing the biggest current risk to retailers across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, with businesses urged to report every incident.

That was the clear message given at a Business Crime Partnership meeting, hosted by Police and Crime Commissioner Donna Jones, at the IKEA store in Southampton this week.

Youth related disorder was highlighted by retail security leaders as a worrying trend across the two counties, including in Southampton city centre and the IKEA store.

Organised Crime Groups are influencing many of these youth gangs, with targeted thefts of household items and high-value foods as well as aggressive behaviour towards staff.

Representatives attended the meeting from IKEA, M&S, Primark, John Lewis Partnership, Co-op, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Halfords and West Quay Shopping Centre, to share their concerns and discuss how best to deal with them.

Donna Jones said: “Shoplifting is not a victimless crime, while the threats and abuse being faced by shop workers are simply unacceptable.

“These offences have a major impact on the staff and the viability of many businesses.”

“The constructive feedback from these meetings helps us to ensure retailers and police are working together to tackle the key issues.”

Nationally, it is estimated only 8% of shoplifting offences are reported to police, according to the British Retail Consortium.

Their 2025 Retail Crime Report found that incidents of violence and abuse towards shop workers rose 50% from 2024 to 2025, with more than 2,000 per day across the UK.

The Police and Crime Commissioner added: “It is no good if these incidents are not reported to police.

“We want the police to take action, but to do so the retailers must report, report, report.

“Theft of goods as well as violence towards shop workers are not tolerable – which is why I have made tackling retail crime one of the key priorities for Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary.

“In addition, through my funding of the UKPAC app, I have enabled businesses to report crime more quickly and more easily. UKPAC has directly led to over 130 convictions and more than 2,000 hours of police time being saved from compiling crime reports.

“This gives officers more time to be on the frontline tackling these sorts of crimes.”

Since the PCC launched the UKPAC platform (UK Partners Against Crime) in June 2025, evidence submitted and compiled via the app has helped to secure charges for 131 individual offenders, 10 Community Behaviour Orders and more than 55 years of custodial sentences.

The digital platform gives retailers the ability to upload digital images and file crime reports more easily – while it provides police information from which they can link offences to prolific offenders.

Businesses across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight can sign-up for 12 months of free membership to UKPAC, funded by the PCC, with the deadline for doing so extended to the end of November.

Further details can be found at www.uk-pac.com