Dame Jackie Baillie has appealed to Chief Constable Jo Farrell about shop lifters in Cardross.
By Lucy Ashton
Urgent action is needed to protect shop workers, Jackie Baillie has warned, following an attack on a shopkeeper in Cardross.
The Dumbarton constituency MSP has backed her Scottish Labour colleague Daniel Johnson who has highlighted the shock news that there have been almost 8,000 reported cases of shop worker abuse or assault since August 2021.
He has laid the issue bare in a letter to the new Chief Constable of Police Scotland, Jo Farrell which comes as a shopkeeper at Cardross Post Office was attacked following a reported theft from the store.
The incident happened on October 21st with police issuing descriptions of four 13-year-old girls they are keen to trace in connection with the incident.
Since the Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-restricted Goods and Services) (Scotland) Act 2021 was introduced, in order to tackle the abuse too many shop workers face, it has been used a staggering 7,955 times.
Daniel Johnson’s letter was co-signed by the Scottish Retail Consortium, the Scottish Grocers’ Federation, the Federation of Independent Retailers, Usdaw, the Scottish Co-Op Party, and GMB Scotland with Ms Baillie fully supporting its contents.
Commenting in light of the incident in Cardross, Dumbarton constituency MSP, Jackie Baillie has urged the new Chief Constable to ensure shop workers feel safe.
She said: “It is a scandal that so many shop workers face violence and abuse at work and I was shocked to read of the incident in Cardross recently which must have been terrifying for the staff member involved.
“Workers are too often bearing the brunt of retail crime, and the astonishing number of crimes being reported exposes the scale of this crisis.
“The new legal protection offered by this bill was an important step forward, but it must be backed up with a comprehensive plan to prevent these crimes as well as prosecute them.“Shop workers must be safe at work and the SNP must ensure the new Chief Constable has the support and resources she needs to make that a reality.”
Top picture: Sleepy Cardross , where shop lifters struck.
That the Police no longer attend incidents of shoplifting of under a couple of hundred pounds shoplifters are now blatantly lifting goods in the knowledge that police will not get involved.
Just another sign of a country that is going to the dogs through its collapsing economy that can no longer pay to support services.
Let no one be unaware of the recent Office of National Statistics ststement that real living standards will drop by 7% over the next year.
Brexit, a war in Ukraine, and an economy losing its way, the continuing decline in Britain economic prowess is now becoming crystal clear.