Police officers should use discretion over desperate shoplifters, says chief inspector

May 19, 2022

Police officers should use “discretion” when deciding whether to prosecute people caught stealing food in order to eat, the new HM chief inspector of constabulary has said.

“The impact of poverty, and the impact of lack of opportunity for people, does lead to an increase in crime. There’s no two ways about that,” Andy Cooke told The Guardian.

He said petty crime fuelled by the cost of living crisis would pose a challenge for policing, as inflation hits a 40-year high and fuel prices continue to surge.

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“What they’ve got to bear in mind is what is the best thing for the community, and that individual, in the way they deal with those issues. And I certainly fully support police officers using their discretion – and they need to use discretion more often,” he told the newspaper.

He said he was not suggesting there should be an amnesty for people who commit crimes of poverty, nor “giving a carte blanche for people to go out shoplifting”.

“I think whenever you see an increase in the cost of living or whenever you see more people dropping into poverty, I think you’ll invariably see a rise in crime. And that’s going to be a challenge for policing to deal with,” he said.

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“There’s always individual cases where you can use your discretion that doesn’t necessarily result in a prosecution but is dealt with in the best way possible.”

On other issues, he added that he hoped to pull the current 6% charge rate for recorded offences up to 20%, and to ensure every burglary victim should receive a visit from police.

“If I got burgled, I would be absolutely devastated if all I got was a phone call,” he said.

He also accepted rape victims were being failed: “Any charge rate that sits around 2% in relation to such a serious offence must mean there is a failure somewhere.”

Mr Cooke has worked in policing since 1985 including as Chief Constable of Merseyside Police, before becoming the head of the independent assessor of police forces in England and Wales in April, taking over from Sir Tom Winsor.

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