Shops may be granted power to arrest and fine thieves

Retailers should be given new powers to arrest and fine shoplifters under proposals to reduce the involvement of the police and courts in the crime.

The Lord Chancellor's department, the police, insurers and shopkeepers are considering new ways of clamping down on retail crime, which costs an estimated pounds 2bn a year.

Under the proposed civil recovery scheme, retailers would recoup between pounds 60m and pounds 123m a year from shoplifters with an average fine and compensation of about pounds 200 per theft.

The measures, contained in a report from the Social Market Foundation, an independent think tank, are a response to the spiralling number of shop crimes which result in a tiny number of convictions and fines.

The moves, while having the qualified support of many large retailers, have met with opposition from police chiefs, smaller retail outlets, and lawyers who fear civil recovery could lead to the decriminalisation of retail crime, allow rich people to buy themselves out of trouble, and lead to a violent backlash from offenders.

The proposed scheme would mirror compensation recovery schemes carried out in most American states. Joshua Bamfield, director of the Centre for Retail Research, and author of the new study Making Shoplifters Pay: Retail Civil Recovery, argues that out of 1.7 million people apprehended last year, less than 10 per cent appeared before courts, or were cautioned by police.

Under his proposals new legislation should be introduced to allow retailers to recover compensation via civil means, rather like a small claims issue. This would allow retailers who caught thieves, many of whom are shop staff, to demand damages or a "civil tort".

A possible system would be to fine the offender two-and-half times the value of the stolen goods, up to a maximum of pounds 250, add a fine of between pounds 80 and pounds 200, plus costs. For example, if a shoplifter stole goods worth pounds 30, he or she would pay pounds 75 for the value of the goods, a fine of pounds 80, and pounds 80 costs, a total of pounds 235. These penalties would double for thieves who are members of staff. Parents of juveniles caught stealing could also face fines.

Britain could also copy the US by making some experienced security staff "peace officers" or Special Constables and giving them limited powers of arrest, says the report.

Mr Bamfield believes between 35 per cent and 55 per cent of people would pay, which could raise about pounds 90m a year.

If people refuse to pay, retailers or police could take out a criminal or civil prosecution. At present most cases are discontinued because they are too expensive and time consuming, for what are often tiny sums of money.

The report concludes: "Civil recovery will never be the total answer to retail crime, but could well be an important new tool for retailers - it may deter shop thieves and provide some recompense to shopkeepers."

Reaction to the proposals has been mixed. The report says that large retailers, such as supermarkets, are generally in favour of the idea although a spokesman for the British Retail Consortium, which represents 90 per cent of the country's retailers, said yesterday that it would not support anything that operated outside the courts, but said a fast track system was desperately needed. Small shopkeepers are worried about being targeted by disgruntled thieves, and the Association of Chief Police Officers has expressed concern that the system could result in fewer thieves being prosecuted as well as decriminalising shoplifting.