Rejected petition Abuse/Violence to retail staff to be a standalone criminal offence.
To make violence or abuse against retail staff a standalone criminal offence. To reduce crime in the town/city centres and make a stand against criminals and give strong signals to the victims.
More details
Looking at the stats on British Retail Consortium for 2022/23: survey shows a 50% increase in levels of retail violence and abuse, to 1300 incidents a day.
60% of respondents say police response is “poor” or “very poor”.
Putting retail abuse as a standalone criminal offence should in effect lower the amount of incidents per day with police having a better response.
Less employees will go off sick/stressed and fell safe on their working environment. Retail abuse can have a long term effect on people’s mental health.
Make the difference to make retail workers feel safe.
This petition was rejected
Why was this petition rejected?
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In November 2024, the Policing Minister announced that the new specific offence of assaulting a shopworker would have a maximum prison sentence of six months.
Perpetrators would also face an unlimited fine and a ban from the shop where they committed the offence.
We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.