Data on Shoplifting 2019 to 2023
Keywords
Shoplifting, Age, Ethnicity, Gender, Property, Supermarket, Shop, Christmas, District, Value, Loss, Items.
Publication Name
Data on Shoplifting 2019 to 2023
Publication Number
PUB 1487
FOI Reference Number
20297
Request Title
Shoplifting Data 2023
Date Range
01 January to 31 December 2023
Information Requested
1. The number of shoplifting offences logged by the force between 01/01/2023 and 31/12/2023
2. The value of stock or money that was reported stolen in each shoplifting offence reported between 01/01/2023 and 31/12/2023
3. The neighbourhood or postcode of each business involved in a shoplifting offence logged by the force between 01/01/2023 and 31/12/2023
4. The month in which each shoplifting offence logged by the force between 01/01/2023 and 31/12/2023 occurred
Disclosure with Exemptions
Full Disclosure
Information Correct as at
13 June 2024
Date of Disclosure
20 June 2024
Related Documents/Links
Essex Police Performance - Essex Police, Fire & Crime Commissioner (pfcc.police.uk)
FOI 20297 Response
Essex Police can report as follows:
Caveat: The data is correct as at 13/06/2024.
Please note:
· Data is based on Crime Tree Level 3 “Shoplifting” offences.
· Below tables represent recorded shoplifting offences (by crime created date) per month, the location (district) of where the offences took place and the sum for 2023 of the “property item value”.
Please see the below table in reference to Questions 1 and 4:
1. The number of shoplifting offences logged by the force between 01/01/2023 and 31/12/2023
4. The month in which each shoplifting offence logged by the force between 01/01/2023 and 31/12/2023 occurred
|
Grand Total |
11708 |
|
Month |
Count of CRN |
|
January |
1020 |
|
February |
840 |
|
March |
1012 |
|
April |
989 |
|
May |
917 |
|
June |
930 |
|
July |
1032 |
|
August |
1083 |
|
September |
977 |
|
October |
1014 |
|
November |
965 |
|
December |
929 |
2. The value of stock or money that was reported stolen in each shoplifting offence reported between 01/01/2023 and 31/12/2023
The sum of Property Item Value Amounts is £1,055,677.21.
Please see the below table in reference to Question 3:
3. The neighbourhood or postcode of each business involved in a shoplifting offence logged by the force between 01/01/2023 and 31/12/2023
|
Grand Total |
11708 |
|
District |
Count of CRN |
|
Basildon |
1694 |
|
Braintree |
731 |
|
Brentwood |
497 |
|
Castle Point |
342 |
|
Chelmsford |
1515 |
|
Colchester |
1186 |
|
Epping Forest |
630 |
|
Harlow |
890 |
|
Maldon |
119 |
|
Rochford |
272 |
|
Southend-on-Sea |
1365 |
|
Tendring |
689 |
|
Thurrock |
1453 |
|
Uttlesford |
303 |
|
Not Recorded |
22 |
Every effort is made to ensure that the data provided by Essex Police is accurate and complete. However, Essex Police systems are designed primarily for the management of individual cases and not for the purposes of providing data to answer specific FOI enquiries. Please note although data can be extracted from a number of sources via database queries, the results may be subject to inaccuracies. Care should be taken to understand our return when considering the interpretation or further use of the data.
You may also be interested in the following link where headline crime data specifically for Essex Police, force wide and by district are published monthly: Essex Police Performance - Essex Police, Fire & Crime Commissioner (pfcc.police.uk).
FOI Reference Number
17723
Request Title
Data on Shoplifting 2019 to 2022
Date Range
01 January 2019 to 31 October 2022
Information Requested
Please would you let me know how many cases of shoplifting there have been between 1 Jan 2019 -31 Dec 2019 and 1 Jan 2020 - 31 December 2020, 1 Jan 21 -31 December 2021, and 1 Jan 2022 - 31 October 2022?
I would like the figures broken down into:
• age group e.g., 0-10; 11-17; 18-30; 31-50; 51-70; over 70s or whichever way your service breaks down the age groups.
• gender.
• racial/ethnicity of suspects e.g., white; Asian; African-Caribbean or whichever way your service breaks down the racial/ethnic groups.
• an overall estimate street value of the products seized or whichever way you record the value of seizures for each individual year.
• items stolen, if you do not have to do a manual search through records.
What was the value of the most expensive item stolen?
What was the value of the least expensive item stolen?
Please breakdown the outcomes into how the matter was resolved e.g., caution, community resolution, charge etc., in each individual year.
Disclosure with Exemptions
Full Disclosure
Information Correct as at
15 November 2022
Date of Disclosure
21 November 2022
Related Documents/Links
Crime Statistics April 2015 to December 2021
FOI 17723 Response
FOI Duty
First Duty – Essex Police does hold information relating to all your request.
Second Duty – See below
Fact – See below
Exemption – Not applicable
Reasoning – See below
Caveat: The data is correct as at 15 November 2022
Question 1:
|
Offences |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
Grand Total |
|
|
11,056 |
7,744 |
7,915 |
7,939 |
34,654 |
Question 2:
|
Suspect Age |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
Grand Total |
|
Under 18 |
546 |
351 |
382 |
539 |
1818 |
|
18 to 30 |
1,621 |
1,166 |
884 |
719 |
4,390 |
|
31 to 50 |
2,985 |
1,815 |
1,872 |
1,758 |
8,430 |
|
51 to 70 |
354 |
252 |
245 |
260 |
1,111 |
|
Over 70 |
14 |
6 |
10 |
6 |
36 |
|
Not Recorded |
4 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
6 |
|
Grand Total |
5,524 |
3,591 |
3,393 |
3,283 |
15,791 |
Question 3:
|
Suspect Gender |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
Grand Total |
|
Female |
1,916 |
1,235 |
1,229 |
1,088 |
5,468 |
|
Male |
3,583 |
2,331 |
2,125 |
2,142 |
10,181 |
|
Not Recorded |
25 |
25 |
39 |
53 |
142 |
|
Grand Total |
5,524 |
3,591 |
3,393 |
3,283 |
15,791 |
Question 4:
|
Suspect Ethnicity |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
Grand Total |
|
African |
82 |
64 |
42 |
30 |
218 |
|
Any Other Asian Background |
17 |
15 |
14 |
7 |
53 |
|
Any Other Black Background |
82 |
41 |
40 |
39 |
202 |
|
Any Other Ethnic Group |
27 |
42 |
17 |
17 |
103 |
|
Any Other Mixed Background |
23 |
23 |
41 |
31 |
118 |
|
Any Other White Background |
357 |
244 |
209 |
222 |
1,032 |
|
Arab |
1 |
2 |
3 |
||
|
Bangladeshi |
13 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
16 |
|
Caribbean |
43 |
29 |
36 |
12 |
120 |
|
Chinese |
4 |
1 |
2 |
7 |
|
|
Gypsy or Irish Traveller |
1 |
28 |
25 |
54 |
|
|
Indian |
10 |
12 |
8 |
3 |
33 |
|
Pakistani |
6 |
1 |
6 |
8 |
21 |
|
White And Asian |
10 |
6 |
4 |
3 |
23 |
|
White And Black African |
18 |
6 |
1 |
1 |
26 |
|
White And Black Caribbean |
59 |
16 |
19 |
9 |
103 |
|
White British |
3,833 |
2,535 |
2,285 |
2,110 |
10,763 |
|
White Irish |
44 |
63 |
51 |
28 |
186 |
|
Not Recorded |
896 |
491 |
588 |
735 |
2,710 |
|
Grand Total |
5,524 |
3,591 |
3,393 |
3,283 |
15,791 |
Questions 5, 7 & 8:
|
Property Item Stolen Value |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
Grand Total |
|
Total Value Stolen |
£2,125,299.83 |
£1,268,537.24 |
£1,226,551.90 |
£1,377,899.15 |
£5,998,288.12 |
|
Most Expensive Item Stolen |
£261,225.00 |
£71,400.00 |
£50,000.00 |
£151,693.00 |
- |
|
Least Expensive Item Stolen |
£0.10 |
£0.10 |
£0.01 |
£0.01 |
- |
Question 6:
|
Property Code 1 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
Grand Total |
|
Animal |
22 |
12 |
17 |
9 |
60 |
|
Art |
12 |
2 |
7 |
7 |
28 |
|
Chemicals |
31 |
20 |
17 |
13 |
81 |
|
Commercial |
188 |
133 |
139 |
100 |
560 |
|
Construction |
166 |
102 |
126 |
119 |
513 |
|
Conveyance |
64 |
20 |
32 |
32 |
148 |
|
Drugs |
60 |
47 |
65 |
36 |
208 |
|
Electrical |
569 |
282 |
312 |
293 |
1,456 |
|
Evidence |
2 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
8 |
|
Evidential Media |
3 |
3 |
3 |
9 |
|
|
Finance |
37 |
10 |
23 |
8 |
78 |
|
Groceries |
5,555 |
4,222 |
4,124 |
3,537 |
17,438 |
|
Highway |
2 |
2 |
2 |
6 |
|
|
Household |
1,562 |
863 |
818 |
838 |
4,081 |
|
Human |
1 |
1 |
|||
|
Jewellery |
52 |
19 |
13 |
30 |
114 |
|
Optical Equipment |
78 |
23 |
23 |
22 |
146 |
|
Ornament |
81 |
28 |
47 |
33 |
189 |
|
Publication |
31 |
24 |
9 |
10 |
74 |
|
Religious |
2 |
2 |
|||
|
Weapons |
6 |
6 |
4 |
1 |
17 |
|
Grand Total |
8,523 |
5,821 |
5,781 |
5,092 |
25,217 |
Question 9:
|
Outcome |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
Grand Total |
|
Adult Caution - conditional |
1 |
1 |
|||
|
Type 1 - Charged/Summonsed/Postal Requisition |
2,408 |
1,464 |
1,183 |
1,002 |
6,057 |
|
Type 1A - Charged/Summons - alternate offence. Offender has been charged under the alternate offence rule. |
6 |
6 |
5 |
7 |
24 |
|
Type 2 - Caution Youth |
15 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
23 |
|
Type 3 - Caution Adult |
103 |
39 |
54 |
50 |
246 |
|
Type 3A - Caution Adult - alternate offence. Offender has been given a simple caution under the alternate offences rule. |
1 |
1 |
|||
|
Type 4 - TIC - Taken into Consideration |
1 |
2 |
3 |
||
|
Type 5 - Offender has died |
1 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
7 |
|
Type 6 - Penalty notice for disorder |
15 |
15 |
|||
|
Type 8 - Community resolution (Crime) |
1,002 |
519 |
543 |
554 |
2,618 |
|
Type 10 - Formal Action Against Offender is not in the Public Interest (Police) |
44 |
44 |
39 |
34 |
161 |
|
Type 11 - Prosecution Prevented-Named Suspect Identified But Is Below The Age Of Criminal Responsibility |
3 |
6 |
1 |
10 |
|
|
Type 12 - Prosecution Prevented-Named Suspect Identified But Is Too Ill (Physical Or Mental Health) To Prosecute |
12 |
3 |
11 |
16 |
42 |
|
Type 13 - Prosecution Prevented-Named Suspect Identified But Victim Or Key Witness Is Dead Or Too Ill To Give Evidence |
2 |
1 |
3 |
||
|
Type 14 - Evidential Difficulties Victim Based- Suspect Not Identified: Crime Confirmed But The Victim Either Declines Or Unable To Support Further Police Investigation To Identify The Offender |
633 |
365 |
345 |
272 |
1,615 |
|
Type 15 - Named Suspect Identified: Victim Supports Police Action But Evidential Difficulties Prevent Further Action |
574 |
417 |
521 |
448 |
1,960 |
|
Type 16 - Named Suspect Identified: Evidential Difficulties Prevent Further Action: Victim Does Not Support (Or Has Withdrawn Support From) Police Action |
508 |
339 |
262 |
247 |
1,356 |
|
Type 17 - Prosecution Time Limit Expired: Suspect Identified But Prosecution Time Limit Has Expired |
31 |
47 |
30 |
8 |
116 |
|
Type 18 - Investigation Complete; No Suspect Identified. Crime Investigated As Far As Reasonably Possible-Case Closed Pending Further Investigative Opportunities Becoming Available |
5,683 |
4,453 |
4,856 |
4,999 |
19,991 |
|
Type 20 - Further action resulting from the crime report will be undertaken by another body or agency subject to the victim (or person acting on their behalf) being made aware of the act to be taken |
7 |
9 |
12 |
14 |
42 |
|
Type 21 - Further investigation resulting from crime report which could provide evidence sufficient to support formal action against the suspect is not in the public interest - police decision. |
1 |
7 |
1 |
3 |
12 |
|
Type 22 - Diversionary, educational or intervention activity, resulting from the crime report, has been undertaken and it is not in the public interest to take any further action. |
7 |
16 |
34 |
41 |
98 |
|
Not Recorded |
2 |
5 |
9 |
237 |
253 |
|
Grand Total |
11,056 |
7,744 |
7,915 |
7,939 |
34,654 |
Every effort is made to ensure that the data provided by Essex Police is accurate and complete. However, Essex Police systems are designed primarily for the management of individual cases and not for the purposes of providing data to answer specific FOI enquiries. Please note although data can be extracted from a number of sources via database queries, the results may be subject to inaccuracies. Care should be taken to understand our return when considering the interpretation or further use of the data.
Headline figures for recorded shoplifting offences in Essex can be found within the monthly Essex Police performance reports published by the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex:
Essex Police Performance
https://www.essex.pfcc.police.uk/essex-police-performance-2-2/
You may also be interested in the following article available via our publication scheme:
Crime Statistics April 2015 to December 2021
FOI Reference Number
17471
Request Title
Shoplifting Offences April 1 to August 31 in 2022, 2021 and 2019
Date Range
01 April to 31 August in 2019, 2021 and 2022
Information Requested
Please can you provide the following information, for the period of April 1 to August 31 in 2022, 2021 and 2019
1. The total number of shoplifting offences logged by the force
2. Of those, the number of shoplifting offences that were listed as occurring at a supermarket, or mentioned Tesco, ASDA, Sainsbury’s, Aldi, Lidl, Morrison’s, Iceland, Waitrose or Marks and Spencer
3. The number of shoplifting offences that led to an arrest
4. The number of shoplifting offences that led to a charge or summons
5. The number of shoplifting offences that led to no further action being taken
Disclosure with Exemptions
Full Refusal with Section 12 Exemption
Information Correct as at
04 November 2022
Date of Disclosure
07 November 2022
Related Documents/Links
N/A
FOI 17471 Response
FOI Duty
First Duty – Essex Police holds some of the information relating to your request
Second Duty – See below
Fact - It is not possible to extract and verify all the data in your request
Exemption - Section 12(1)
Refusal - Section 17(5) of FOIA
Reasoning -
In respect of Question 3, Essex Police are unable to provide a data report specifically on Shoplifting offences that led to an arrest. When Arrests take place they may be for one offence and other offences then emerge following investigation, there is an issue with data quality pertaining to Arrests for Shoplifting.
Each relevant Arrest report would need to be manually reviewed in order to determine if the offence was one of Shoplifting, rather than another offence – this could take 20 minutes per record. This would take considerable resource to achieve and, therefore, is regarded as excessive and would exceed the time and cost limits under the Act.
Duty to assist – When refusing a request on cost (Section 12(1)/12(2), outside of the act and in effort to assist we can provide the following
Whilst Essex Police are unable to report specifically on Arrests for Shoplifting, we can however report the following from the Custody system:
Caveat: The data is correct as at 04/11/2022.
Question 1:
The following table is the total number of Shoplifting offences recorded by Essex Police:
|
Year |
Total Shoplifting |
|
2019 |
4651 |
|
2021 |
3498 |
|
2022 |
3905 |
Question 2:
Of those, the number of shoplifting offences that were listed as occurring at a supermarket, or mentioned Tesco, ASDA, Sainsbury’s, Aldi, Lidl, Morrison’s, Iceland, Waitrose or Marks and Spencer are set out as follows:
The Athena crime recording system does not distinguish between Supermarkets and Other Shops, therefore please find a breakdown for the Supermarkets mentioned:
|
Row Labels |
2019 |
2021 |
2022 |
|
TESCO |
419 |
444 |
447 |
|
SAINSBURY'S |
224 |
207 |
197 |
|
ALDI |
75 |
101 |
146 |
|
ASDA |
139 |
114 |
87 |
|
MARKS & SPENCER |
81 |
81 |
122 |
|
MORRISONS |
114 |
73 |
48 |
|
LIDL |
46 |
44 |
44 |
|
WAITROSE |
73 |
26 |
39 |
|
ICELAND |
34 |
28 |
33 |
Question 3:
There are data quality issues in the offence data on Shoplifting pertaining to Arrests. The following data comes from the Custody system, where Reason for Arrest is Theft from Shops:
|
Year |
Total of Arrests |
|
2019 |
1272 |
|
2021 |
622 |
|
2022 |
827 |
Question 4:
The number of shoplifting offences that led to a charge or summons:
|
Year |
Total Charges |
|
2019 |
969 |
|
2021 |
540 |
|
2022 |
458 |
Question 5:
The number of shoplifting offences that led to no further action (NFA) being taken and the outcome types used in this data are set out below:
Type 10 - Formal Action Against Offender is not in the Public Interest (Police)
Type 11 - Prosecution Prevented-Named Suspect Identified But Is Below The Age Of Criminal Responsibility
Type 12 - Prosecution Prevented-Named Suspect Identified But Is Too Ill (Physical Or Mental Health) To Prosecute
Type 14 - Evidential Difficulties Victim Based- Suspect Not Identified: Crime Confirmed But The Victim Either Declines Or Unable To Support Further Police Investigation To Identify The Offender
Type 15 - Named Suspect Identified: Victim Supports Police Action But Evidential Difficulties Prevent Further Action
Type 16 - Named Suspect Identified: Evidential Difficulties Prevent Further Action: Victim Does Not Support (Or Has Withdrawn Support From) Police Action
Type 17 - Prosecution Time Limit Expired: Suspect Identified But Prosecution Time Limit Has Expired
Type 18 - Investigation Complete; No Suspect Identified. Crime Investigated As Far As Reasonably Possible-Case Closed Pending Further Investigative Opportunities Becoming Available
Type 22 - Diversionary, educational or intervention activity, resulting from the crime report, has been undertaken and it is not in the public interest to take any further action.
|
Year |
NFA |
|
2019 |
3212 |
|
2021 |
2702 |
|
2022 |
2936 |
Every effort is made to ensure that the data provided by Essex Police is accurate and complete. However, Essex Police systems are designed primarily for the management of individual cases and not for the purposes of providing data to answer specific FOI enquiries. Please note although data can be extracted from a number of sources via database queries, the results may be subject to inaccuracies. Care should be taken to understand our return when considering the interpretation or further use of the data.
FOI Reference Number
16497
Request Title
Shoplifting 2020 / 2021
Date Range
01 September 2019 to 30 November 2021
Information Requested
Initial Request
Could you tell me if you have seen cases of shoplifting increase in the run up to Christmas please?
Also do you have current figures on the number of people caught shoplifting compared to this time last year please?
Clarification Received
Yes from September to December 2020 compared with the same period this year.
Disclosure with Exemptions
Full Disclosure
Information Correct as at
10 December 2021
Date of Disclosure
04 January 2022
Related Documents/Links
N/A
FOI 16497 Response
Having completed enquiries within Essex Police in respect of Section 1(1)(a), Essex Police does hold information relating to your request, Essex Police can confirm in respect of Section 1(1)(b) the following data:
Caveats:
The data is correct as at 10 December 2021.
Dates:
01 September 2019 to 31 December 2019
01 September 2020 to 31 December 2020
01 September 2021 to 30 November 2021.
Could you tell me if you have seen cases of shoplifting increase in the run up to Christmas please?
|
Date |
Offences |
|
Sep-21 |
668 |
|
Oct-21 |
819 |
|
Nov-21 |
795 |
Also do you have current figures on the number of people caught shoplifting compared to this time last year please?
|
Date |
Offences |
|
Sep-19 |
861 |
|
Oct-19 |
905 |
|
Nov-19 |
902 |
|
Dec-19 |
864 |
|
Date |
Offences |
|
Sep-20 |
705 |
|
Oct-20 |
767 |
|
Nov-20 |
696 |
|
Dec-20 |
571 |
Every effort is made to ensure that the data provided by Essex Police is accurate and complete. However, Essex Police systems are designed primarily for the management of individual cases and not for the purposes of providing data to answer specific FOI enquiries. Please note although data can be extracted from a number of sources via database queries, the results may be subject to inaccuracies. Care should be taken to understand our return when considering the interpretation or further use of the data.