The north’s senior police officer believes a dramatic increase in shoplifting has been fuelled by people resorting to crime to feed themselves.
Area commander Chief Superintendent Julian Innes said there had been a 50% year-on-year rise in the number of incidents across the Highlands.
Interviews with the culprits revealed many were stealing to avoid going hungry – rather than targeting luxury items which could be sold on for cash.
Last night, a local citizens advice bureau manager blamed welfare reform and benefit caps imposed by the Conservative Westminster government for the shock statistics.
And a foodbank manager in the Highlands said she was “not surprised” that some people were prepared to break the law and risk a criminal conviction to provide for themselves and their families.
From April to August this year, 304 people were caught shoplifting – compared with just 209 during the same period last year.
Mr Innes said: “Shoplifting has seen a spike this year.
“We’ve seen more shoplifters than ever in the Highlands and our view is that people are stealing to feed themselves.
“The evidence that makes us believe that is what things people are stealing.
“People have always stolen from shops, but we have been seeing an increase in people stealing foodstuffs.”
Mr Innes said that theft generally across the Highlands had been declining but shoplifting had increased, whereas in previous years it had also reduced.
He said: “What we’re seeing is a change in the type of items that are being stolen. What our officers are feeding back after they’ve interviewed people is that they are stealing to feed themselves.
“We haven’t seen that before in the Highlands and I’m sure it has always been there in small amounts but it’s a pattern we’ve started to see.
“We’re working closely with the shops that we know are being targeted to see if we can make them a little bit harder to steal from.”
Mr Innes said that he would consider whether officers should give advice on foodbanks to those they caught.
Dingwall and Seaforth councillor Angela Maclean said: “I think it’s really upsetting that people are resorting to stealing to feed themselves.
“I watched a programme earlier in the week which suggested that people are having to do that now and I just think it’s incredibly sad.”
John Finnie, Independent MSP for the Highlands and Islands and a former policeman, said the senior officer’s comments revealed a “shocking state of affairs”.
He said: “The police service works in our communities. They understand our communities.
“When we have a senior figure like Chief Superintendent Julian Innes, who is well respected, very, very clearly laying out that people are stealing foodstuffs to sustain their living, then that’s a shocking state of affairs.
“Of course there have always been thefts, and no one is condoning theft for one second, but in the past it has been thefts of luxury items.
“These are people who are hard-pressed. People who are in dire straits.”
Councillor Hamish Fraser, chairman of the local authority’s community safety committee, said: “The rise in shoplifting reported is of concern and there are wider social and economic issues at play here.
“Theft from our shops is not a victimless crime and results in higher costs for everyone. I would especially like to see the bigger supermarkets and shops taking action to address this problem.”
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