Every year the British Retail Consortium (BRC), the lead trade association for UK retail, complete an annual Crime Survey, assessing the risks and threats in the retail industry.

In February, the BRC published their 2024 Crime Survey which showed the retail crime statistics gathered from 1st September 2022 to 31st August 2023. Their findings revealed an increase in violence and abuse cases amounting to 1300 a day (in comparison to the previous year’s stats of 870 cases a day)! According to BRC, 87% of retailers are forecasting violence as being one of their top 3 threats for the next couple of years.

The other highlighted issue in the 2024 crime survey was the number of losses due to shoplifting. A staggering £1.8 billion is estimated to be the overall loss value over a 12-month period for UK retailers. With thieves becoming more aggressive, retail workers are feeling the affects more in both a physical and mental capacity.

In scenarios such as these the presence of a security guard can really make a difference. At SGC Security Services we ensure that our security staff are fully qualified to de-escalate a potentially violent situation as well as enforce loss prevention measures.

You can read more about the BRC 2024 Crime Survey by following this link: https://brc.org.uk/news/operations/brc-crime-survey-2024/