Retailers in a Norfolk town say they’re losing a battle against a growing wave of shoplifting.
Shopworkers in Dereham have reported £8,000 heists and chased suspects through the high street.
The scale of the problem was revealed in a Freedom of Information request to Norfolk Constabulary.
It showed the number of reported shoplifting offences in the town has more than quadrupled since 2021 and could increase six-fold if the current rate continues.
Shoplifting offences in Dereham rose from 51 in 2021 to 234 in 2024.
By 30 June, 183 offences had already been recorded this year - putting 2025 on course to be the worst yet.
It comes as part of a nationwide rise in shoplifting.
This month, statistics from the Office of National Statistics showed shoplifting in England and Wales is at its highest level since records began more than two decades ago.
An 18-year-old who works at Boots in the marketplace said the shop saw £8,000 worth of goods stolen earlier this year.
She said: "We’ve got all our security stuff and the buzzers, but it doesn’t really stop anyone to be honest.
"I’m working my little butt off so I can afford all this fancy stuff and they’re coming in and swiping it.
"We literally can’t do anything, the police don’t do nothing.”
A worker at the Co-op next door voiced similar concerns about a lack of policing.
He said: "It would be better if there was more presence, now I only ever see them in the cars driving past with their lights on.
"You very rarely see them on the beat anymore, it’s really really slow around here.
"I’ve lived here twenty odd years and I’ve never had it this bad, for the last couple of years it’s gotten worse.
"If you had more presence it would be better.”
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It’s not only major retailers being affected.
Charity shops in the town centre say they are also being targeted - with money taken from tills and staff having to chase thieves to recover items.
A volunteer at the East Anglia's Children's Hospices charity shop said a pair of organised thieves once distracted her before reaching into the till and stealing £60.
She added that shoplifting is now a daily occurrence.
Further down the high street, Sandra Billings, assistant manager at Cancer Research UK, also voiced her concerns.
She said: "It’s always sad when it's a charity shop.
"I know people are desperate, but it’s getting worse and worse. It’s not just people who are in need, people do it because they can.”
She said the shop does not have CCTV for cost reasons, and that new charity guidance had recently been introduced which she described instructs staff to "basically let them get away with it”.
Instead, they rely on a locked cabinet for valuable items, a board with pictures of known offenders, and an app created by Norfolk Constabulary that allows retailers to share intelligence about suspected thieves.
Mrs Billings' colleague, Heather Neave, said she once had to chase someone down the high street to recover a stolen T-shirt.
Norfolk Police say they are working to try and reduce shoplifting, and defended their detection rate.
A spokeswoman from Norfolk Constabulary said: "We work positively to reduce shoplifting across Norfolk – doing what we can to both prevent and detect crimes. Our detection rate for shoplifting has been at one of the highest in the country for some time now.
"Shoplifting has seen an increase nationally over recent years. This is for many reasons including the fact that shops are now being encouraged to officially report offences to police to ensure resources can be allocated effectively.
"With regards to the statistics, Dereham’s figures are still comparatively low. To take 2023 as an example, Dereham’s retail thefts accounted for less than 3pc of those reported across Norfolk.
"We always encourage shops to not only report offences to us but to support with evidence gathering which will help us to progress prosecutions.
"The vast majority of retail theft in Dereham is carried out by regular local offenders and the area now has a dedicated retail beat manager."
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