Sussex Police issued fewer charges or summonses to shoplifters in the space of a year than all but two of the forces in England and Wales.
During a meeting with Police & Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne, it was revealed that, of the 9,541 shoplifting incidents recorded between October 1 2021 and September 30 2022, only 733 resulted in a charge or summons.
The figure amounts to 7.7 per cent compared to more than 20 per cent for the best performing forces.
Only Surrey Police and the Metropolitan Police had a lower percentage.
Deputy Chief Constable Dave McLaren said there had been a 30 per cent increase in the reporting of shoplifting, thanks in part to schemes such as DISC, which allows businesses to report crime via an app, and One Touch.
One Touch was introduced in 2021 and is being used by 22 Co-op stores.
DISC is used in more than 500 town and city centres across the UK and was introduced in Haywards Heath in March, with Burgess Hill and East Grinstead to follow.
Mr McLaren told the Commissioner he was confident that the force’s drive to improve investigative standards ‘will have an impact in this area’.
But he added that part of the problem when it came to catching shoplifters was the lack of engagement from some businesses once they had reported the crime.
He said: “We have challenges with businesses engaging with us after reporting – actually getting involved in the investigative process, sharing evidence with us, providing us with finer details to enable us to take the investigation further, and also the availability of CCTV.”
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