Store staff to use body cameras after shoplifting spike
BBCStaff at a St Helier supermarket are being issued with body cameras and bosses are employing visible and undercover security guards due to an increase in shoplifting.
The changes have been introduced at Alliance on Sand Street and Jersey Police said 181 cases of shoplifting were recorded in the island in 2024 - an increase of a fifth on the previous year.
The force said it had launched a community policing operation in response to the figures, although it stressed cases remained "extremely low" when compared to the UK.
Store manager Zed Stott said: "I've been working in this store for 10 years now and it's definitely getting worse."
Recorded cases of shoplifting in Jersey (figures from Jersey Police)
- 2021: 115
- 2022: 137
- 2023: 152
- 2024: 181
"It's become quite a concern for us," said Mr Stott, who added he had seen a "definite upturn" in shoplifting and anti-social behaviour over the last year.
He said: "We do employ private store detectives - some of them static, some of them undercover.
"We've also invested in little body cameras that some of our duty supervisors will be wearing, particularly in the evenings and at the weekends when we seem to see those types of issues - whether it's shoplifting, whether it's antisocial behaviour - be more prevalent."
Why is shoplifting on the rise?
Both Mr Stott and Insp David Turnbull, head of Jersey's Community Policing Team, said younger people - including under 16s - were responsible for many of the thefts committed in St Helier.
"Then there is a different group of people who have almost made it their full-time occupation to shoplift, and those are people that are particularly damaging for our business," Mr Stott said.
Dawn Venton from Dorset Street Stores believed increases in the cost of living may have contributed to the recent rise in reported cases of shoplifting.
"People just haven't got the money," she said.
"They're struggling.
"They'll go to the foodbanks or whatever, but sometimes they just need that bit more.
"Some is just opportunistic, but I think there is real need as well, which is making the problem worse."
Insp Turnbull said his officers had been "working very hard with retailers over the past few months" in the hope of reducing shoplifting in St Helier.
"We're talking to staff, we're talking to senior managers," he said.
"We now sit on the main town centre group with a lot of those retailers, so we can discuss problems really early and then put steps in place."
Mr Stott agreed the police were supportive, and said they shared "common frustrations" as they sought to stop people stealing from town shops.
"It's the hidden cost, the amount of time that we will spend on each individual case of shoplifting, that is quite significant," he said.
"I could spend up to two to three hours on any one case, which is part of my role but it's a significant investment: taking statements for the police, obtaining CCTV footage.
"And quite often the result of all of that work, not just from my part but from the police as well, and other agencies - we see very little return on that in terms of the behaviour doesn't change, we get repeat people coming back in, doing exactly the same thing."