The National Retail Association (NRA) and the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) have highlighted a recent report detailing significant spikes in violent crimes targeting retailers.
NRA interim CEO Lindsay Carroll said that a coordinated response from governments is required to address the issue.
“Governments need to give retailers and police the right tools, whether that be funding, policy changes or even just political leadership, to effectively address this growing trend of violence in retail, and so repeat offenders can be identified and brought to justice,” Carroll said.
“Criminals have become bolder, and our system needs to keep up; this includes leaning into technology-based solutions that can deal with this challenge at scale.”
New data from reporting software company Auror revealed that events involving knives and blades increased by more than 40 per cent in 2024.
Across the country; retailers reported a 30 per cent increase in violent or serious events, as well as a 39 per cent increase in threatening events over the past year.
Auror senior director Nick McDonnell said retail crime is becoming increasingly brazen and violent.
“What’s confronting is, about one in four retail crime events last year involved some form of violence, intimidation, threats, physical or verbal abuse,” McDonnell said.
“Police do an incredible job keeping us all safe and there is no substitute for the hands-on work they do in our community, but crime in retail is such a high-volume crime type that it’s impossible to address it all.
“However, focusing on repeat offenders causing the majority of the high-volume, high-harm offences is critical – and you can only do that if you have visibility to the total problem.”
The data suggested that 10 per cent of offenders year were responsible for more than 60 per cent of the total harm and loss. Victorian retailers recorded the most significant increase in both violent and threatening retail crime, spiking by 38 per cent and 52 per cent.
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