New taskforce aims to tackle rise in retail crime across Scotland

Police Scotland has established a new task force that aims to tackle retail crime across the country.

It is made up of 16 uniformed officers and detectives, as well as four civilian staff, and will operate within Edinburgh, Glasgow and Lanarkshire.

The task force was created following a £3m funding allocation from

The Scottish Government allocated £3m in funding for the task force, which has a four-strand approach to tackling retail crime – prevent, pursue, protect and prepare.

Assistant chief constable Tim Mairs said: “There is no justification for retail crime and the theft of goods from stores, or the harassment and intimidation of employees, is certainly not victimless.

“When such offences take place, it can have a significant impact on retail workers, who then feel unsafe at their place of work. This is not acceptable.”

Mairs told STV News there was a big reduction in retail crime during the pandemic but it is now increasing beyond pre-Covid levels – primarily shoplifting.

“We will be targeting repeat offenders,” he said. “Shoplifting is one of those categories where a large number of the offences are committed by a small number of people.

“Those are the people we will be targeting – and the organised elements of that. But we are also looking at a strong prevention element.”

Several retailers in Fife are trialling a process of direct reporting of offences on their premises so police can investigate with more ease and speed.

In other parts of Scotland, a digital evidence-sharing initiative will be used to speed up the court process for those charged with retail crimes.

Community safety minister Siobhian Brown said: “I welcome this retail crime taskforce, enabled by £3m of Scottish Government funding in 2025-26. This is in addition to a Budget investment of a record £1.62bn for policing – an increase of £70m on 2024-25.

“Retail crime causes significant harm and disruption to individuals and businesses, and I am pleased that this taskforce will work to prevent this type of crime from occurring and to ensure that, when it does happen, perpetrators are brought to justice.”

Lucy Brown, chair of the Scottish Retail Strategy Industry Leadership Council, said: “While we all know there’s no silver bullet to resolve retail crime, we are very pleased to be here today to support the launch of this new investment.

“We look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with Police Scotland and the Scottish Government in the coming months and to seeing the results of the investment.”