Incidents of shoplifting rose nearly 6% over the past year, representing about $9 billion in losses for businesses.

A surprising finding was the number of new shoplifters; outwardly reputable people walking off with French cheeses, quality meats, cosmetics, mobile phones, clothing and other goodies that they feel they need to maintain a quality of life they can no longer afford.

Service stations have reported a rise in the number of drive-offs and its difficult for them to have Police attend or with shop-keepers who have back on staff.

Given the Courts lenient sentences on ‘real’ criminals, first time offenders figure they don’t run much risk of being caught and if caught, they won’t pay much of a price and will justify their action on the hard times we’re all facing.

A jump of 5.9% in the past year at the more than 1,000 retail chains surveyed globally (steepest increases occurred in) North America (8.1%), the Middle East (7.5%) and Europe (4.7%). In terms of total losses, retailers in North America topped the charts at $46 billion, followed by Europe’s $44 billion and $17.9 billion in the Asia-Pacific region.

Of course it should come as no surprise that the USA is the leading ‘criminal’ nation, given that it was one of the first places criminals were sent from England.