Waitrose and John Lewis are offering free coffees for police officers who attend the stores in a bid to tackle shoplifting.
John Lewis's head of security Nicki Juniper said that the rise in thefts is not a result of people trying to put food on the table in the cost of living crisis, claiming the retail giant is targeted by "professional shoplifters stealing for greed".
She added: "Just having a police car parked outside can make people think twice about shoplifting from our branches.” For Co-op stores, shoplifting has reached record levels, with an average of nearly 1,000 incidents each day in the first half of this year - an increase of 35%.One store in inner London was looted three times in a single day.
Physical assaults on front-line store workers have risen 30% year-on-year, with anti-social behaviour and verbal abuse rising by a fifth . Shockingly, police often failed to respond to reports of shoplifting - 71% of serious retail crime callouts were not responded to, the company said.
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