Chief calls for tougher penalties for shoplifters

A police chief is calling for tougher punishments for prolific shoplifters.

Paul Sanford, the Chief Constable of Norfolk Police, said shoplifting was one of the few crimes in the county that has remained on the increase.

Speaking to Edd Smith on the BBC Radio Norfolk Breakfast programme, Sanford said he believed there should be swifter and more effective deterrents in tackling repeat offenders.

He said: "There's big delays in our court system and I will share my frustration that sometimes I don't think these persistent offenders are getting a deterrent sentence they need."

He added: "We do have a problem with persistent offenders coming back to stores time and time again and we do need some concerted effort to tackle them and stop their offending."

According to the ONS, 6,382 cases of shoplifting were reported to Norfolk Police in the 12 months to June 2025, up from 5,211 the year before.

Sanford said he believed the government's sentencing review was "critically important".

He revealed that the force had recently dealt with one man who had admitted 23 counts of shoplifting, a Breckland woman who had been arrested 43 times since 2022 - and a Norwich shoplifter who had been arrested 25 times in the past 20 months alone.

"We're catching them, we need the rest of the system to catch up," he said.

However, he said he had the "upmost sympathy" for staff working in stores where shoplifters operated.

The force's advice for keeping shops secure was to maintain good customer service, draw up a crime map to show where in the shop items were being taken from, to keep the shop floor tidy - and make sure staff were trained in how to spot thieves.

He said: "When that theft is accompanied by any sorts of violence, threats and intimidation we will come down hard on them and rightly so in terms of what needs to be done.

"We have chronic backlogs in our court system and that needs to be sped up."

He said CCTV was the most useful first line of inquiry and facial recognition was being used by the force to identify offenders.

Sanford also said part of the problem was stolen goods, including ones taken in bulk from supermarkets, being sold on.

For the most prolific offenders, he said the force has been applying to the courts for criminal behaviour orders, which allowed police to ban individuals from entire town centres or cities.

"We are chucking anything we can at these individuals to stop their offending," he said.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said "We now have new laws giving tough community restrictions including the biggest ever expansion in tagging and the use of restriction zones.

"We are also modernising our criminal courts by combining bold reforms, record investment and action to tackle inefficiencies across the system to deliver swift justice."

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