“It was an everyday occurrence”: The rise of shoplifting in Leicestershire
What the correlation between inflation rates and shoplifting rates shows
Shoplifting rates in Leicestershire have been on a rollercoaster ride since 2018. Offences committed have fluctuated alongside the cost of living and with food prices being as high as they are right now, so are shoplifting offences.
Interviews with a supermarket worker and a shoplifter (who will remain anonymous, under the name of John Smith) reveal how people on both sides of this story feel about the situation today.
The correlating rise in rates
Shoplifting in Leicestershire seems to fare well in comparison with the rest of England and Wales, with the highest rate per 1,000 people being 6.2 in 2018, compared to the highest rate in the country being 15.3 in Cleveland that the same year. The lowest rate was recorded in Dyfed-Powys in 2021, when their shoplifting rates dropped to 2.3, showing Leicestershire is in the middle for rate of offences, as seen in the graph below.
The highest numbers being recorded in 2018 and the lowest in 2021 might not be a coincidence though, as looking at the rates of inflation in the past eight years, the lowest rate of 0.3 was recorded in 2021. This could provide a potential answer as to why shoplifting was so low in Dyfed-Powys during that year.
In Leicestershire, rates of shoplifting jumped from 3.7 in 2022 to 4.8 in 2023, recording more than 30% increase, whilst inflation rates increased by more than 35% in the same period, showing a correlation. Matthew Parker, 25, worked in an Asda supermarket in Leicestershire for 7 years and he said: “People are doing it due to prices going up and stealing is becoming more of a common offence so a lot more people have jumped on the band wagon.”
The correlation extends to more than just that time period though, as the graph below shows the increase and decrease in shoplifting numbers tends to follow that of inflation rates.
Different perspectives
For someone working in supermarkets such as Matthew, shoplifting has become “an everyday occurrence”, which has led to the 25-year-old growing a large amount of anger towards those committing the crime. He said: “Those stealing I despise because I wasn’t brought up that way and work hard for my money to survive and then thieves get away with hundreds/thousands which is costing companies a lot of money.”
On the other hand, for people like John Smith, who commonly shoplifts, perspectives tend to change. John said he has been shoplifting for the past three years and according to him, he only started because of food prices increasing too much. They said: “I only started stealing things when prices for meats or my laundry detergent got as expensive as it is now.”
Data from the Office for National Statistics shows that in 2021 inflation rates were at 0.3, but jumped dramatically to 10.9 in 2022. The increase didn’t stop there, as a further 35.4% increase was recorded in 2023, when rates rose to 14.8. John said: “I mean things like that just got way to expensive and taken out of proportion. The fact that things have gotten as bad as they are today is the only reason I steal.”
When asked how often they tend to shoplift, John said: “It depends, sometimes I don’t if I’m only going in for something small but usually if I go in on my lunch or something like that I always will take maybe a sausage roll or another little snack”.
There are different type of shoplifting offences, with little cases such as John’s going under the radar in comparison to organised groups shoplifting items. Matthew mentioned this happening in the store he worked at as he saw big operations take place where shoplifters would focus on stealing high value targets.
Supermarket workers like Matthew might think that shoplifters do not like them, but according to John that isn’t the case. They said: “I respect the workers they have to do their job, but when I steal its not affecting them is it and when I have been caught in the past I always own up to it and pay for what I took without causing them any further issues.”
Common enemy
Despite the two not being able to see eye to eye on the situation, they both mentioned being angry at the same person, without even realising it. The UK government.
For Matthew, the government is not doing enough to punish those shoplifting or taking any action to try and cut down shoplifting rates in general. He said: “I say stealing is a massive problem, always has been and I know it has only gotten worse over the years and unfortunately the government are doing nothing about it.”
John seemed to have the same perspective, as he complained about the government allowing inflation rates to the point that they are at now. They said: “Just to be clear I never steal from local shops its only the big ones because they, alongside the government, are making life for the common person harder by increasing the prices of everything.”
Asda worker Matthew shared further frustration with the police force, as he mentioned that they are not doing enough either to stop shoplifters. He said: “(Shoplifting) happens a lot so we gave up phoning them (the police) and just gave the stealing people ban letters and hope they didn’t come back.”
Although the image painted by Matthew may be bleak, as shoplifting rates are known to drop, as they did in 2021, according to the ONS data, it means they could go back down soon. Although with inflation rates still high, that might not be happening at any point in the near future.