Crime costs shops £2bn a year, says BRC

UK businesses spend £2.24bn on average every year combating crime, and costs are spiralling, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) warned today.

Figures published by the group at the annual Retail Crime and Security Conference show a 9% increase in spending by businesses on crime prevention measures and clearing up after criminals.

Since 2000 the problem has cost shops £11.2bn - an average of £2.24bn a year according to the BRC. Stores spent £710m on security equipment during 2004 alone.

The shock figures follow Scotland Yard Commissioner Sir Ian Blair’s admission last month that the war on terror had placed the police force under strain. Analysts said it could lead to an increase in low-level street crime.

BRC director general Kevin Hawkins warned that retailers were losing twice as much money through crime as they were spending on preventing it. He added that many incidents were going unreported and that the figures could be just 'the tip of the iceberg'.

"Retail crime leaves deep scars not only on business viability and retail staff, but also on the community with the significant costs of prevention often passed on to all threads of society," he said.

Hawkins called on the police to make the process of reporting a crime easier and urged them to help build awareness of the problem, which is still seen by many as victimless.