Austerity blamed for rise in shop crime

That is the worrying view of Leeds’s top police officer, Chief Superintendent Paul Money, who says “austerity” is turning people into criminals.

Figures show that total crime has increased about one per cent this year. But shoplifting offences have shot up by more than 13 per cent, primarily because of an increase in the amount of food being stolen.

Mr Money said: “In the last 12 months Leeds, along with most areas, has seen a very marginal increase in crime and it’s around specific crime that I would argue is driven by austerity.

“For instance, we are seeing an increase in shop theft. We have a large volume of that anyway in a place like Leeds but never before have we seen foodstuffs stolen in the quantities they are now.”

Asked if people were stealing to feed themselves, he said: “Yes. That’s a dynamic we haven’t seen before.”

While crime has fallen steadily in recent years, between April and September of this year there were 315 more crimes in Leeds than the same period in 2012.

The number of robberies, burglaries and other serious acquisitive crime actually fell, but there were 358 more shoplifting offences during the six months than the same period last year.

Mr Money said the police were working with charities like St George’s Crypt and food banks “to give people another option”.

“If we have got people stealing foodstuffs there’s a strong motivation, so we need to provide an alternative to stop that criminality spiralling,” he added.

Conservative MP for Elmet and Rothwell Alec Shelbrooke said he accepted some people were being driven to crime, but defended government policy. He said: “I would agree that some people have been stealing to feed themselves. The economic situation is still very tough, but the country was left completely bankrupt by the last government and that’s why it’s important to keep growing the economy.”