Retail environment
Poundland Delivers the Change in Colleague Safety
Value Retailer Protects People and Product with Multi-Faceted Investment in Technology and Private Prosecutions
The well-worn British idiom—“if you protect the pennies, the pounds will look after themselves” translates universally as looking after smaller savings in order to deliver bigger overall results.
This phrase also has a double meaning in the world of value, narrow-margin retailing when the savings being referred to involve preventing your colleagues from coming to harm and making every penny and pound count when it comes to introducing a zero-tolerance approach to violence and aggression.
Figures from the British Retail Consortium’s (BRC) 2025 Retail Crime Survey revealed that retail crime was “spiralling out of control”, and at its highest level on record, with incidents of violence and abuse climbing to over two thousand per day.
This represents a significant increase from the previous year and is more than triple the daily incidents reported in 2020. Furthermore, theft incidents reached an all-time high, costing retailers £2.2 billion in 2023/24.
One of the most serious statistics from the report was that seventy incidents per day involved a weapon, more than double the figure for the previous year.
Poundland—Disrupter
That was why British discount high street staple Poundland made the decision last year to crack down hard on in-store incidents with its “Against Retail Crime” campaign, which has seen the retailer take a more interventionist approach of detaining prolific and persistent offenders rather than the more passive deter policies of other retailers.
The business, founded and still based in the West Midlands, sells everything from food to fashion, craft to cutlery, and plants to party products. Its ever-evolving range powered by seasonality and surprise, has been recognised as a personality destination with a strategy to deliver on its value promise to an ever-growing number of British consumers.
As the post-COVID cost-of-living crisis hit, Poundland was part of the zeitgeist that was no longer the preserve of lower income families, but the preference and guilty pleasure of a wider demographic drawn to its value proposition whatever the economic climate looked like.
But its welcoming, open-door policy and mass merchandise approach has also attracted the wrong kind of customer—those for whom a pound (or thereabouts)—is still too high a price when they know they can take it for free by using threats, aggression, intimidation, and even violence towards anyone who tries to stop them.
Now, Poundland has taken a more hands-on approach where other retail strategies have been very much hands off.
While many other businesses have been fearful of financial and reputational damage caused by directly confronting store thieves, Poundland has now taken its positive “disrupter” reputation to the next level by being at the vanguard of retail businesses looking to tackle the scourge of increasingly unacceptable behaviour towards its staff.
The business has taken an “enough is enough” approach to detaining versus deterring aggressive shop offenders, an approach that has been raging across the retail industry since former Conservative Policing Minister Chris Philp MP, suggested last year that retailers and the public should be prepared to make citizens arrests because police officers “can’t be everywhere”.
It is an approach that also chimes with the security industry that has felt largely emasculated by the deter narrative.
The sector has also long maintained that the do not detain approach, introduced as a result of COVID, and the legal and brand damage ramifications, has sent the wrong message to seasoned criminals who now use violence and intimidation to steal with impunity knowing there are no consequences to their actions.
Security officer recruitment experts GuardPass said the deter decision undermined the security industry: “One of the primary roles of the security personnel in retail environments is to deter crime. The mere presence of a uniformed security officer is to dissuade would-be thieves from attempting to steal. However, the widespread knowledge that the security officers are not allowed to detain suspects has significantly undermined this deterrent effect. Criminals, aware of these policies, are emboldened to commit theft with little fear of any consequences.”
“This has led to a noticeable increase in shoplifting offences across the UK, with many stores experiencing losses at unprecedented levels. The situation is further exacerbated by organised retail crime gangs who have become more brazen in their activities knowing that security personnel are effectively hamstrung by the “do not detain” policies, the impact of which extends beyond the practical challenges of theft.”
“It has had a significant psychological impact on security staff, which can lead to feelings of frustration, helplessness, and a diminished sense of purpose. The vast majority of security officers take pride in their ability to protect people and property, and these policies can make them feel like they are failing in their responsibilities.”
“As a result, job satisfaction within the retail security sector has declined dramatically with many officers feeling demotivated, and some have chosen to leave the profession entirely. This has contributed to the already high staff turnover rate in the security industry making it more difficult for companies to maintain a stable and experienced workforce.”
“The decline in morale also affects the quality of service provided as demotivated staff are less likely to perform their duties effectively,” the recruiter argued.
Poundland—Turning the Tide
The Poundland initiative is seen by many in the industry as turning the tide on the trend towards restoring a more effective crime prevention approach, which in this case is also being underlined by a significant technology investment by the value retailer.
At the same time as the Against Retail Crime campaign launch, Poundland also introduced its biggest ever investment in anti-theft technology and security to support the campaign by equipping its 800-plus store estate with “anti-theft innovation” to deter shoplifting, together with the roll-out of communication headsets so that employees can communicate quickly when incidents occur.
Poundland’s head of loss prevention Christina Jesty revealed that the rate of store theft and abuse towards colleagues has “accelerated significantly” across the company’s stores in the past eighteen months.
“Whether it’s store theft undermining all our colleagues’ hard work, or incidents of violence and abuse making our colleagues feel unsafe at work, something had to change,” said Christina.
“At Poundland, we pride ourselves on being a value-led high street retailer, where protecting our colleagues goes hand-in-hand with protecting our prices.”
She continued: “That is why we’re saying enough is enough and beginning a campaign to support our frontline teams and crack down on retail crime across our stores.”
Tougher sanctions introduced into the recently launched Crime and Policing Bill 2025, included the new offence of assaulting a shopworker, which carries an unlimited fine or six months in prison.
The same law has now also scrapped section 176 of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 which downgraded shoplifting of goods valued at £200 or less to a summary offence, meaning it could be tried before magistrates rather than a crown court.
Ostensibly, this would seem like good news for Poundland in terms of bringing more criminals to trial, although the parlous state of the criminal justice system and the overcrowding of UK prisons could be a challenge.
The Government has made overtures about more prison provision in the future, and early release schemes introduced in the wake of last summer’s riots around the UK have created more latitude in the existing estate.
Speaking at the Crime and Justice Commission in April this year, Lord Timpson, Minister of State for Prisons, Probation and Reoffending, said: “We’ve got around 500 spare places in prison today, in the male estate. You can’t run any organisation when you’re that close to running out of space.”
“We know that the prison population is increasing by about 100 people a week—you can’t carry on doing that.”
Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures released at the same time as the summit revealed that there were 551 available spaces left in men’s prisons before the system would hit its operational capacity of 84,761. When female and youth estates were included, there was a total of 961 available spaces in an operational capacity of 89,042.
Lord Timpson told attendees at the summit: “I think we’ve got the right moment to change because we have to make bold decisions.”
In March the MoJ was forced to reintroduce an emergency measure to use police cells for inmates as prisons were on the brink of running out of space. It gave the Prison Service the use of around two hundred cells to hold prisoners overnight until prison cells became available. At £668, it costs nearly five times the average daily cost of a prison place which is £165.
Businesses Looking after Themselves
The wider geo-politics of the criminal justice system mean that businesses cannot sit on their hands when faced with a duty of care obligation to staff.
While the shortage of police officers and prison places makes for sobering reading, it reinforces Poundland’s decision to take an independent and tougher stance to protect its colleagues by immediately being able to remove threatening and abusive people from the stores.
As part of its retail crime initiative, Poundland is also giving its contracted security teams the backing to detain suspected offenders in stores; ensuring local police pursue prosecution for “every incident of retail crime” and employing “significantly more” undercover guards across its estate.
The company said that a tougher line is already being taken in partnership with local police forces, with one prolific shoplifter in Gloucestershire recently receiving an eighteen-month custodial sentence after being charged with trespassing and burglary rather than lesser charges after he re-entered a Poundland store.
The defendant pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a community order whereby they must complete 250 hours of unpaid work within twelve months. This must be completed by March next year. Costs awarded to the Crown Prosecution Service were set at £85.00 with a surcharge of £114.00, bringing the total balance to £199.00.
It is also heavily invested in civil recovery against those who steal from the stores as part of a restitution programme that does not require a criminal conviction in order to recoup the value of the stolen items as well as damages for the cost of the investigation.
“Since the launch of our Against Retail Crime campaign we have had ninety-five cases of civil recovery and 340 cases of compensation orders,” added Christina.
Technology
Supporting the get-tough approach is the greater use of evidence gathering technology to support the prosecutions. The business is also deploying Motorola Solutions VT-100 body cameras to “scores of stores” with the most significant crime issues following a successful trial across its estate.
Poundland said that the cameras provide a visual deterrent for offenders as well providing “eyes on” evidence through the recording of incidents.
According to Poundland, the cameras have already seen an 11 per cent decrease in violence against its workforce and a “marked reduction in shoplifting and theft.”
The body camera technology is currently available at three hundred of the company’s stores with plans to roll out to more.
Motorola Solutions
Motorola Solutions’ body-worn cameras and VideoManager software have provided a fast and user-friendly solution for store colleagues, according to the supplier.
The VT-100 camera, with its single-button operation, starts recording with one press and stops with a press and hold. All recordings are fully AES256 encrypted, ensuring that footage can only be accessed and viewed by authorized Poundland staff via VideoManager.
At the end of a shift, the camera is placed in its charging dock, which automatically offloads videos to VideoManager allowing the admin team to easily access and manage all videos centrally and securely within the platform. Important videos can be shared via a secure link, maintaining control and security within the Poundland ecosystem.
The system also logs every action, from video creation to viewing and sharing, providing a full audit trail.
Additionally, the Poundland IT team can monitor the hardware status of all body cameras across every store and view network usage. They can also adjust how and when camera data is transferred to optimise network bandwidth and minimise impact on daily operations.
“No one should feel unsafe at work—but a YouGov survey at the end of 2024 revealed exactly that—retail workers are concerned for their own safety, and the safety of shoppers” said James Frame, Motorola Solutions’ mobile video sales manager for EMEA.
“Poundland employees can easily start their shift by grabbing their assigned VT-100 camera from its charging dock and attaching it to their uniform with either the crocodile clip or lanyard, and the camera’s convenient size ensures it doesn’t hinder daily tasks.”
“The camera’s presence alone can deter potential troublemakers, instantly defusing many situations and increasing the safety of users. By simply wearing the camera, users feel safer and are safer.”
When necessary, the camera can be activated to record video and audio evidence, which often leads to high conviction rates if legal action is pursued.
Poundland has been in frequent communication with Motorola from the outset of the project and found the deployment to be fast and straightforward.
“Staff feel safer and when required they now have strong evidence to prosecute offenders,” said James.
As with other retailers that have deployed Motorola Solutions body cameras, Poundland has seen a significant reduction in aggression and theft, creating a much nicer and safer environment for staff and customers alike.
“By working closely with our Platinum Partner CSE Crosscom the whole process has been very smooth, from initial proof of concept and throughout the entire roll out process.”
“Close co-operation with Poundland IT and local store managers ensured the physical installation of hardware had a minimal impact on store operations,” he added.
Once installed, all staff were given training, which given the simplicity of the product again reduced downtime and made an immediate positive impact.
Poundland is not the only UK retailer to take a harder line on growing retail crime in recent months.
In November, executive chairman of Iceland Richard Walker said he would “happily” trial legal and proportionate facial recognition to address growing retail crime.
Following a House of Lords Enquiry which found that seventeen million shoplifting incidents take place in the UK every year, in a LinkedIn post the Iceland boss warned that security guards are “very limited” in their ability to act against “brazen, professional criminals” who he said are operating without fear of consequence.
Walker, who has worked at Iceland for more than six years, called for enhanced legal powers that would allow security staff to search and “safely detain offenders”.
Lincolnshire Co-op also announced plans to roll out body cameras across its ninety-nine food stores and forty-four pharmacies as part of a £200,000 investment.
The move, which follows a successful trial at four locations in early 2024, aims to address increasing levels of threats, abuse, and violent incidents taking place across Lincolnshire Co-op’s stores.
The retailer said it has seen a 245 per cent increase in incidents of threats and abuse to its employees over the past five years.
Further afield, Amsterdam-based SPAR International announced in December 2024 that it had integrated retail technology powered by artificial intelligence (AI) to thwart theft in real time and protect profit margins.
UK PAC
There is also growing evidence of more cooperative and collaborative multi-agency approaches to retail crime as part of the wider “fight back”.
One such example is also featured in another article in this issue of Loss Prevention Magazine Europe. UK PAC is a new organisation which joins the dots by connecting the private and public bodies involved in preventing retail crime from the arrest to the point of prosecution, and even treatment programmes in the case of some prolific and persistent shop thieves who are addicted to drugs and steal to feed their habits.
From the retailer to the BRCP, the BIDs, local authorities, the police, legal professionals, and even the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), UK Partners Against Crime (UK PAC), a co-operative of like-minded organisations focused on improving trading and community safety, is building a national collaborative movement from a local base.
The ideas and principles behind UK PAC (see page 13) are based on the “County Partnership Model” and were generated by a group of local businessmen who had themselves been involved in dealing with business crime through collaborative and partnership means for several years.
While the political debate over how to reduce retail crime rages on regarding how to effectively address the issue of violence and aggression, businesses such as Poundland have taken matters into their own hands while at the same time working with partners to keep customers and colleagues safe.
This approach is paying dividends in better staff morale and sending the message that such behaviours will not be tolerated. To this end, the business has very much adopted an “in for a penny, in for a pound” strategy that puts its money where its mouth is when it comes to delivering positive change.
