Proposed measures to tackle violent crime against the retail sector

A package of measures to help tackle retail violence has been proposed by the Minister for Crime, Safeguarding and Vulnerability, Victoria Atkins.

In response to a summit held in December the Minister said, "[I] have enormous sympathy for shop workers who, in their endeavours to enforce the law, can face intimidation, threats and, in some cases, violence."

The package calls for:

• evidence on violence and abuse towards shop workers; 

• funding to raise awareness of exsiting legislation in place to protect shop workers; 

• refreshing the work of the National Retail Crime Steering Group to foucs exclusively on violence and abuse.

The package will be introduced as part of the Offensive Weapons Bill that is currently before Parliament.