More than half of all crimes reported on licensed premises in East Lothian involved shoplifting from local stores, police have said.
In nine months between May and February 180 incidents were recorded with 91 relating to shoplifting, and a third of all reports coming from the county’s biggest town of Musselburgh.
A report presented to a meeting of East Lothian’s join licensing forum and board, last month, saw members told large stores were the biggest targets with police admitting the numbers were just the tip of the iceberg.
A police officer told the meeting: “These are the incidents that are reported to us, there will be a lot more shoplifting incidents that go unreported as well.”
The meeting heard that Musselburgh saw a third of all incidents reported to police by licensed premises with Tranent the second biggest area.
The police representative told the meeting: “We have had 180 recorded incidents in East Lothian in licensed premises. Most of these incidents have been in the Musselburgh area with 66 incidents and the second highest area is Tranent so half of all incidents were in these two areas.
“More than 50% of incidents were shoplifting. In the Tranent area it is predominantly shoplifting specifically at superstores and the Musselburgh area is much the same.
“There are not that many actual calls to licensed premises, it is mainly shoplifting that we have to deal with.”
As well as shoplifting police received calls about 22 assaults, 26 incidents of disturbance, one drugs related call and two hate crimes.
The committee was told the larger superstores where ‘most of the shoplifting occurs’ have regular initiatives and procedures in place to stop shoplifting including CCTV and electronic tags on alcohol.
Councillor Neil Gilbert asked if there was any indication of how much stores were losing above incidents which were reported to police and people being caught.
The officer said: “These are the incidents that are reported to us, there will be a lot more shoplifting incidents that go unreported as well.”
By Marie Sharp Local Democracy Reporter
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) is a public service news agency. It is funded by the BBC, provided by the local news sector (in Edinburgh that is Reach plc (the publisher behind Edinburgh Live and The Daily Record) and used by many qualifying partners. Local Democracy Reporters cover news about top-tier local authorities and other public service organisations.
