Brett Ellis has an opinion on rise in shoplifting figures

Now I won't club you to death with statistics, bar a couple of those numbers ‘hand-picked’ (excuse the pun), including ‘shoplifting.’

Now recording the highest levels since records began, 469,788 incidents were ‘recorded’ in the year to June 2024, with ‘only’ 365,173 the year before.

It is important, of course, to explain what the word ‘recorded’ means: It is those crimes reported to the police which is arguably a minuscule proportion of the crimes that actually take place.

You’re a small shop owner, and someone comes in and grabs, say, a bottle of Lucozade: Your options are: 1) Risk death or significant injury by attempting to apprehend the assailant and then, no doubt, being charged for assault. 2) Report it to the police, who will nine times out of 10 not even bother to visit you as they are understaffed, hidden away in an office somewhere, and it's not an easy win. Or 3: Do nothing.

Brett Ellis was shocked by the soaring rise in shoplifting figures People shoplift for a variety of reasons. Some for the thrill, some because they are angry and frustrated at being the never-haves, some because they know they will get away with it and some because they have no other choice.

I was shocked when I first saw baby formula in one of those cumbersome security boxes that shop staff always struggle to get off, but, as a law-abiding citizen and teacher, I can honestly say if I saw a mother stealing such an item, I would turn away and let her crack on.

Such action is born of desperation, and until we can bring down, dramatically, energy costs, rent, food prices and every other element of our existence, then these figures will continue to rise.

So yes, people are angry. They are also being silenced with the threat of arrest should they utter something not woke enough, and in the meantime, they are being abused financially repeatedly against a system that is there to punish, punitively, for the most minor of utterances.

And so, through desperation you think ‘sod it’ and go on the rob, and get away with it, and get a buzz, and do it again and again, with absolutely no intervention created to put a stop to it.

Yes, it’s a sorry state of affairs, and I’m just thankful I don’t have young kids anymore, as I believe I would be risking my career in the days leading up to payday by acquiring a gratis carton of Aptamil as, well, I wouldn’t have any other choice, would I?

• Brett Ellis is a teacher.