Scotland’s shoplifting epidemic has surged to a record high, racking up almost 53,500 offences in a year, figures show. Police Scotland recorded 53,424 shoplifting offences in the year to March, an increase of almost 20 per cent and accounting for almost half of all dishonesty crimes at over 45 per cent.
Data also shows nearly 7,000 crimes against shop workers were logged during the period. It comes amid warnings of a “new frontier opening up in organised crime”, with retail theft increasingly linked to more organised and coordinated activity.
Police confirm they have identified more than 40 organised crime gangs believed to be driving surging retail offences, with networks operating across the country and goods often stolen to order or quickly offloaded on the black market.
Critics claim the SNP Government’s soft touch justice agenda sees too many culprits escaping with slap-on-the-wrist warnings.
Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Stephen Kerr said: “The SNP’s soft-touch justice system has effectively decriminalised retail crime, while their underfunding of the police has left the force with few resources to tackle this crimewave.
“Shoplifting has become industrialised by organised crime gangs, and small businesses and customers are paying a heavy price, while SNP ministers are still doing nothing to tackle this situation.”
Scottish Labour justice spokesperson Pauline McNeill added: “The SNP have allowed police numbers to be cut to the bone and, as a result, too many people just no longer feel safe in their local areas. These statistics show that there is a new frontier opening up in organised crime.
“We must have a revised strategy on how to deal with the mass scale of shoplifting. The ineffective fines that are dished out do next to nothing to deter the criminals. Enough is enough.
“It is high time for the SNP to ditch their soft-touch approach on this issue by clamping down on shoplifting and making sure those guilty of committing such crimes are properly punished.”
Police chiefs insist a targeted crackdown is making inroads, with the Retail Crime Taskforce (RCT) having supported 1,300 arrests since it was launched in April last year.
Data shows the taskforce secured more than 6,400 charges for retail crime in its first 12 months of operation and is now active in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Tayside, targeting the areas most adversely affected by thieves.
But Police Scotland acknowledge that, despite improvements in detection rates, arrest numbers and retailer confidence in reporting incidents, shoplifting offences are still rising.
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Police Scotland Assistant Chief Constable Tim Mairs has said evidence shows in the last five years there has been an increase in the overall number of under 18s resorting to shoplifting.
He says: “High demand, domestically and internationally, for stolen items and cheaper products is making shoplifting an appealing venture. This could particularly apply to those under the age of criminal responsibility and under 25 who will be aware of potential criminal justice outcomes for shoplifting and see it as a low risk/high reward crime.”
A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: “Police Scotland established the taskforce with an initial £3 million of Scottish Government funding, with a further £3 million committed annually to 2029 to sustain this work. This is in addition to record funding of over £1.7 billion for policing in 2026-27.”