The Metropolitan Police and retail groups have called on the government to fast-track court cases against repeat shoplifters and to enforce court orders more consistently.

In a letter, the Metropolitan Police, British Retail Consortium (BRC), and Retail Trust charity recommended the Home Office and Ministry of Justice work to bring offenders before courts within 72 hours of a charge and work to more rigidly enforce court orders.

They also called for the government to draft a more straightforward escalation framework for repeat offenders breaching criminal behaviour orders.

In London, shoplifting offences have dropped by 3.7 per cent last year while arrests for retail crime have risen by 50 per cent. Charges or cautions for retail crime also rose by 123 per cent in the financial year 2025/26.

But prolific offenders continue to account for a large proportion of overall retail crime incidents, according to London’s Metropolitan Police, which said that 104 repeat offenders were responsible for 4,389 offences.

Police analysis of the 104 offenders discovered that 97 per cent continued to offend even as they passed through the justice system.

Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC, said that retailers and police are collaborating on tackling retail theft and violence but called for the government to ensure the justice system works more effectively.

“While initiatives such as Project Pegasus are helping drive progress, too many offenders still face little meaningful consequence,” she said.

“To truly turn the tide on retail crime, Government must strengthen the justice system so offenders, particularly repeat offenders, are brought to justice quickly and effectively. These are not victimless crimes; they have a devastating impact on retail workers, businesses and communities.”

Project Pegasus is a public-private partnership launched in October 2023, which brings police services across the UK together with major retailers for intelligence sharing and national coordination to reduce shoplifting.

Matt Twist, assistant commissioner at the Metropolitan Police, acknowledged that the force has not “always got the response to retail crime right” but said it has introduced changes over the past 18 months including retrospective facial recognition technology that has achieved an 80.5 per cent identification rate for retail offenders.

“Working hand-in-hand with retailers and sharing evidence has been crucial in building strong cases and securing charges,” Twist said.

“Where underreporting remains, we are working with business to ensure incidents are reported to bring those offenders to justice.”

Twist and Dickinson, along with Chris Brook-Carter, chief executive of the Retail Trust, met with retail partners at a Boots store in London on 17 June to discuss the response necessary to tackle the problem of retail crime.

On 1 July, the Metropolitan Police and BRC will host a roundtable to discuss the matter in more detail.

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