Abuse/Violence to retail staff to be a standalone criminal offence.

Background

To make violence or abuse against retail staff a standalone criminal offence. To reduce crime in the town/city centres and make a stand against criminals and give strong signals to the victims.

Additional details

Looking at the stats on British Retail Consortium for 2022/23: survey shows a 50% increase in levels of retail violence and abuse, to 1300 incidents a day. 60% of respondents say police response is “poor” or “very poor”. Putting retail abuse as a standalone criminal offence should in effect lower the amount of incidents per day with police having a better response. Less employees will go off sick/stressed and fell safe on their working environment. Retail abuse can have a long term effect on people’s mental health. Make the difference to make retail workers feel safe.