Rachael Oakley, Director of Corporate Accounts at DeterTech, explains why retailers, police forces, policymakers and technology providers must tackle retail crime prevention with innovative technology, substantial evidence and a proactive approach to safety.

Retail crime has reached a breaking point.

For retailers across the country, it’s no longer just about loss prevention.

It’s about protecting people, rebuilding confidence and holding criminals to account.

It’s a growing problem, with the ACS Crime Report 2024 finding that 67% of retailers believe the cost-of-living crisis has led to an increase in theft.

According to the UK Government’s Crime and Policing Bill, there were 429,914 shop theft offences recorded by the police for the year ending September 2024.

Aside from the financial losses, this escalating problem is taking an emotional toll on retail workers.

Abuse, intimidation and violence are now daily occurrences for thousands working in retail.

In fact, the BRC Crime Survey Report 2025 shows that more than 2,000 incidents of violence or abuse are reported every day and many more go unreported.

The same report also found that 10% of incidents of violence and abuse resulted in police attendance, but only 2% saw a conviction.

Tackling this issue means rethinking the response. The challenge is rarely identifying who’s committing the crime.

It’s securing the evidence that will stand up in court. And that’s where technology, intelligence and forensic innovation can change the game.

How retail theft is changing

Shoplifting is not a new problem, but the nature of the crime has changed.

It’s no longer just about opportunistic theft, it’s frequently organised, violent and carried out at scale.

The BRC Crime Survey Report 2025 revealed the total cost of retail crime, including prevention, to be £4.2 billion.

Many retail crimes are carried out by organised criminal gangs.

Items are stolen to order and then resold through social media marketplaces, such as TikTok Shop and Facebook Marketplace or even in local corner shops. 

Retail managers and local police forces often know who the repeat offenders are, but proving their involvement is a challenge.

The cost-of-living crisis is adding fuel to the fire, but these criminals aren’t targeting everyday items for their own consumption; they are stealing high-value goods they can resell.

This shift from petty theft to violent and organised crime means retailers must change their approach to ensure they can help police group together incidents and present the evidence they need to secure meaningful convictions. 

Shopworkers are on the frontline

Perhaps the most worrying trend is the rise in violence towards retail workers.

These are ordinary people who are just doing their job so they can pay their bills and provide for their families; they should not be placed in danger.

In the past year, the BRC Crime Survey Report 2025 revealed that there had been more than 25,000 incidents involving a weapon, often a hammer or a screwdriver.

This represents a staggering 180% increase from the previous year.

This cannot continue and more must be done to protect retail workers.

This is why, at DeterTech, we welcome the UK Crime and Policing Bill.

This new bill will make assaulting a shopworker a specific criminal offence.

While introducing new legislation is a big step forward and can act as a deterrent, it’s not enough.

We need improved policing, stronger evidence and smarter prevention.

Shopworkers should not be having to place themselves in dangerous situations or having to accept routine abuse intimidation as an unwritten part of their job description.

The need for an organised response to retail crime

When dealing with organised criminal gangs, the approach to retail crime requires an organised response.

Currently, when retail crime incidents occur, shop workers report the crime and hope that the police will follow up, but this is not always the case.

In fact, 61% of retailers rate the police response to retail crime as poor or very poor in the BRC Crime Survey Report.

When there is police follow-up, that doesn’t guarantee a conviction, which leaves shopworkers even more vulnerable to retaliation from repeat offenders.

Instead, retailers need to shift their focus to building a clear evidence chain that directly ties the offenders to the crime and gives police a much longer window in which they can meaningfully respond and apprehend them.

What’s clear is that without this approach, even known criminals can slip through the net.

The case for stronger retail crime prevention strategies

Forensic marking is now playing a crucial role in preventing retail crime.

It’s an invisible liquid that’s unique to each store or product range.

It glows under UV light and is virtually impossible to remove.

Retailers like Boots, Homebase and BT have adopted forensic marking and apply it to high-theft items, so if those products later turn up in a suspect’s home or on an online marketplace, the police can prove exactly where they came from.

This kind of tagging doesn’t just work on products.

It can also be sprayed on offenders as they leave the store, making the previously untraceable immediately identifiable.

If a suspect is stopped by police later, the forensic marking residue on their skin or clothes will irrefutably link them to the scene of the crime.

It’s a powerful deterrent, but also a crucial piece of the investigative puzzle.

It can help increase the conviction rate in contested court cases.

Building forensic marking into your retail crime prevention strategy is about more than deterring criminals; it’s about making it easier to prosecute them.

Building an evidence chain

In many crime cases, the offenders are known to the shop and the police, but proving their involvement isn’t always easy.

This is where forensic marking helps to build an evidence chain.

It works by assigning a unique marking to items that can be traced back to the shop where they were stolen. Proving not only the theft but also the location of the theft.

This provides the police with sufficient evidence to proceed with searches and arrests and together with CCTV, holds up in court to support a conviction.

Utilising technology such as forensic marking and CCTV can assist in demonstrating that the same criminal gangs are responsible for multiple thefts. 

But only if it is captured and shared with police in a way that enables them to link multiple offences and not treat each one as a small theft.

Prevention recommendations for businesses

Prevention begins before a crime is committed.

You can send a clear message to potential offenders by displaying signs to communicate the advanced security measures that have been adopted.

Even hardened criminals look for a soft target, those that have few security measures in place.

However, if it’s clear that security technology is in use, this sends a message that there is an increased likelihood of being identified, traced and convicted if they commit theft or are abusive or violent towards staff. 

CCTV surveillance and forensic marking are a crucial part of your retail security strategy, but there are other practical steps every retailer can implement to deter criminals and help build your evidence chain, including:

• Use bold signage to highlight your security systems
• Ensure CCTV is working and covers all key areas such as tills, entrances and high-value items
• Use remote monitoring to protect your shop after closing time
• Encourage staff to observe and report suspicious activity
• Log every incident, no matter how small, as it helps build a pattern and share intelligence
• Never enter physical confrontation; leave it to security personnel and the police

Working together to prevent retail crime

Preventing retail crime requires a collaborative approach. One group cannot turn the tide on this escalating problem alone; it needs retailers, police forces, policymakers and technology providers to work together.

As conviction rates remain low and incidents of violence towards retail workers continue to rise, it’s clear that a new approach is needed.

We need to work together, using better tools, stronger evidence and a coordinated, intelligence-led approach to prevention.

Every group must play their role.

Retailers must implement effective security measures, ensure that staff are appropriately trained and collaborate with technology partners that can enhance their retail security with solutions such as forensic marking and remote monitoring.

At the same time, the police must improve their response rates and follow-up actions, while policymakers should consider legislation that protects retail workers and retail environments more effectively.

At DeterTech, we embed crime prevention into every retail space.

We help retailers and police forces to stay one step ahead of crime by providing the intelligence, tools and technology needed to predict, deter and detect threats.

Our tagging, forensic marking and remote monitoring solutions, combined with data-led insights, work together to prevent incidents.

Whether you are responsible for one location or many, we partner with retailers to take proactive steps to protect their people, stock and stores.

Our work is grounded in prevention, collaboration and the belief that no one should feel unsafe at work.

By supporting faster responses and more intelligent decisions, we help create safer retail environments and stronger communities.

This article was originally published in the July edition of Security Journal UK. To read your FREE digital edition, click here.