Police Scotland has launched a Retail Crime Taskforce and Action Plan, which will use the dedicated funding of £3m announced in the Scottish Government’s Budget for tackling crime against retailers.
The Taskforce will work alongside a range of key stakeholders, cracking down on prolific shoplifters and helping retailers protect their premises.
The unit comprises 14 uniformed officers and detectives, as well as four civilian staff, including specialist analysts and an Architectural Liaison Officer.
The uniformed officers will be based in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Lanarkshire due to the high levels of retail crime recorded in these areas.
Launching the Retail Crime Taskforce, Assistant Chief Constable Tim Mairs said: “There is no justification for retail crime and the theft of goods from stores, or the harassment and intimidation of employees is certainly not victimless.
“When such offences take place, it can have a significant impact on retail workers, who then feel unsafe at their place of work. This is not acceptable.
“I am grateful to the Scottish Government for the funding allocation that has made this possible and to the agencies who we will work in partnership with to reduce retail crime.”
Community Safety Minister Siobhian Brown said: “I welcome this retail crime taskforce, enabled by £3 million of Scottish Government funding in 2025-26. This is in addition to a Budget investment of a record £1.62 billion for policing – an increase of £70 million on 2024-25.
“Retail crime causes significant harm and disruption to individuals and businesses, and I am pleased that this taskforce will work to prevent this type of crime from occurring and to ensure that, when it does happen, perpetrators are brought to justice.”
Employment and Investment Minister Tom Arthur added: “I am particularly pleased that Police Scotland has engaged with the retail sector through the Retail Industry Leadership Group and will continue to do so as the work of the taskforce progresses. Through this joint approach I hope that we can reduce the harm caused by retail crime to businesses and employees.”
Lucy Brown, Chair of the Scottish Retail Strategy Industry Leadership Council, said: “While we all know there’s no silver bullet to resolve retail crime, we are very pleased to be here today to support the launch of this new investment.
“We look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with Police Scotland and the Scottish Government in the coming months and to seeing the results of the investment.”
David Lonsdale, Director of the Scottish Retail Consortium, said:
“Crime against retailers is a scourge on communities across Scotland and soaring levels of thefts from shops is a key factor behind rising levels of abuse and threats towards store workers. The financial cost pushes up prices for Scottish shoppers and undermines the health and vitality of our high streets.
“Despite better legal protections for shop workers and record spending by retailers on crime prevention, much more needs to be done to reduce crime against retailers. We applaud the greater prioritisation and funding being given to this and the focus on persistent offenders and organised criminal gangs which target retailers.
“It’s a positive start towards what should be a concerted effort across law enforcement and the criminal justice system to turn the tide on crime against retailers, hopefully with the funding sustained over future years.”
Incidents of abuse and violence towards shopworkers continues to rocket and official data shows thefts from shops leapt 18% in 2024 to 43,000 incidents. In addition, one in five Scots witnessed shoplifting taking place whilst in a store last year, according to polling by the Scottish Retail Consortium and Opinium Research.
