Shoplifting 'a whole society problem', say police

Ten suspects have been linked with almost 1,000 shoplifting offences in Essex during a six-year period, figures released to the BBC have revealed.

The two most prolific culprits were both suspected of shoplifting 124 times in the financial years between 2020-21 and 2025-26.

Sgt Christian Denning, who runs the business crime team at Essex Police, said shoplifting was "a whole society problem" which required a coordinated approach to solve.

The offending details were released after a Freedom of Information (FOI) request and came as Home Office data showed more than half-a-million shoplifting offences were reported to police across England and Wales in 2025-2026.

Essex has seen a 4% drop in reported shoplifting over the last financial year, but there were still almost 14,000 incidents, with just over a quarter leading to a prosecution, but more than half did not result in an arrest.

However, the force has one of the strongest prosecution rates in the country for tackling repeat prolific shoplifters, based on 25 police forces which responded to that particular question in the BBC's FOI request.

The Home Office data showed Southend has the highest shoplifting figures in Essex over the last financial year, with 12 incidents per 1,000 people.

Thurrock is second-highest, with 11.1 incidents per 1,000 people and Chelmsford third with 8.6 incidents per 1,000 people.

Maldon has the lowest reported figures with 2.4 incidents per 1,000 people.

Nationally across England and Wales the figure is 8.1 incidents per 1,000 people.

The BBC went with officers to an Essex car boot sale, where stolen items can sometimes be sold on to unsuspecting members of the public.

PC Mike Lee said they look for trade logos or multiples of the same items being sold, although traders can be unwittingly selling stolen goods.

"It can be a massive chain - it can be 10, 15, 20 different places it's been to before we actually get to the people who have maybe stolen it…to begin with," he said.

Lee said he had witnessed many stolen items being sold at boot sales - from Amazon Fire TV Sticks to laundry tablets - but the team was focused on "the wider picture" of why those items might have been stolen.

"There are a lot of vulnerable people out there… suffering with addictions, drugs, alcohol - they feel that is the only way they are able to make the kind of money they need to fulfil their addiction."

Lee added there was a difficult balance for retailers to strike between welcoming customers and protecting stock from being stolen.

"I don't know what the answer is - maybe a bit of both, courts need to be a little tougher and retail maybe need to put more of a deterrent in, but it's a societal issue," he told the BBC.

Denning said although the number of shoplifting offences had dropped since 2024-2025, that was just for those which Essex Police had been told about - with other crimes going unreported.

"We don't know the exact scale [of the problem] and this is something we try and work on with businesses as well," he said, referring to the success of Operation Retail, where alleged shoplifters are presented with evidence of their offence and asked if they wanted a formal interview or for the cases to go straight to court.

He added that at peak times such as Christmas, stores may not even have the time to report shoplifting offences.

He also warned that if thefts were not reported within a month, prosecutions became tougher as often CCTV systems only hold footage of the previous 28 days.

"It's one thing reporting it to us but it's another thing making sure that we get the evidence in order to prosecute," he added.

Denning also appealed to the public to question if certain items for sale appeared "too good to be true".

"Why is it a deal? Why is it half price? There's always a price being paid somewhere along the line," he told the BBC.

"Don't think so much about the big stores and the owners of these stores - think about the people on the front lines in these stores and how much they're having to suffer for you to get a bargain."

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