Whenever I visit shopkeepers, one issue dominates: crime – particularly theft and the threats and abuse towards brilliant and passionate staff that often accompany it. Thieves are said to be more brazen and aggressive.

This is despite record spending by retailers on crime prevention and legislation – introduced by Daniel Johnson MSP and enacted five years ago – to better protect shopworkers.

That record spending has seen stores deploy body-worn cameras, more security guards, enhanced CCTV, anti-theft devices and new crime reporting systems. The enormous cost is borne by retailers and by customers through higher prices.

Shoplifting tops 53,000 offences as retail crime climbs

Official shoplifting figures continue to spiral, rising 88% over the past three years. In the past year theft from stores increased by a fifth to 57,000 incidents – 165 every day. Scottish Retail Consortium research suggests the true picture is far worse. With 22,500 shops, the idea that each store experienced fewer than three incidents on average over the year is far-fetched.

Theft is a key driver of the despicable rise in abuse and threats towards store workers. Thanks to Mr Johnson’s legislation, we have a clearer sense of the scale: in the past year there were 3,900 incidents of threatening........

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