Over 1,300 arrests for retail crime offences have been made with the support of Police Scotland’s Retail Crime Taskforce in its first year.
The Taskforce has secured more than 6,400 charges for retail crime in its first 12 months of operation, with the detection rate rising to just under 51%, compared with 49% the previous year.
Despite this success, the unit conceded that theft by shoplifting offences have risen by 19% compared with last year. However, the Taskforce believes this is partly due to an increased confidence in reporting from retailers.
The unit has pledged to continue working alongside local policing divisions and a range of key partners and stakeholders to improve security on-site for retail premises; enhance the safety of retail workers; and use all resources at its disposal to undertake effective enforcement activity against retail crime offenders.
In addition, dedicated Taskforce resources are now in place in Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Tayside to ensure areas most adversely affected by retail crime are being fully supported.
Earlier this year, the Scottish Government announced an additional £9m in funding to Police Scotland to tackle retail crime over the next three years, meaning the Retail Crime Taskforce will operate until at least 2029.
Year two for the Retail Crime Taskforce will see significant changes to the way that retail premises can report crime to police, through the use of a new online reporting form to directly report incidents of shop theft.
This form was developed by Police Scotland’s Contact, Command and Control Division and allows retailers to report shoplifting incidents where there is no ongoing threat or risk to safety.
Not only will this reduce the time businesses need to wait when reporting a crime, it will also assist in reducing demand on call handling, allowing for priority calls to be better serviced.
Inspector Emma Wright, Tactical Lead for the Retail Crime Taskforce, said: “There have been successes across the country in the first 12 months of the Taskforce as part of our ongoing efforts to tackle retail crime.
“The efforts of the unit and work carried out by local divisions has resulted in a significant number of detections of both shoplifting offences and offences against retail workers.
“While we continue to see an increase in the number of shopliftings reported, there are indications that this is in part due to an increased confidence in reporting from retailers and the resulting police response.
“The additional three years of funding received from the Scottish Government will enable us to continue our efforts to reduce shoplifting and provide support and education to businesses across the country.
“We want to thank retailers for their continued support and engagement as we collaboratively tackle the issue of retail crime.
“We cannot and will not become complacent and we recognise that further work is needed to reduce the number of offences occurring across Scotland. We take these offences extremely seriously and through continued partnership working we strive to make our communities a hostile environment for retail crime offenders.”
The dedicated unit, which tackles crime with a four-strand approach to prevent, pursue, protect and prepare, was established in April 2025 following an initial £3m funding allocation from the Scottish Government to address a rise in shoplifting and assaults on retail workers.
- The Retail Crime Taskforce (RCTF) has announced it will hold a quarterly webinar via Microsoft Teams especially for small and independent retailers. The next webinar is being scheduled for August. For an invite, email SCDRetailCrimeTaskforcePrevent@Scotland.police.uk.
