The anarcho-tyranny continues. Official figures published this week show shoplifting up again, by 13% in the 12 months to June of this year. The number of police-recorded shoplifting crimes now exceeds 500,000 for the first time.

But, of course, even that shocking number doesn’t reflect the full scale of the problem. Reacting to the news, the British Independent Retailers Association points out that the “vast majority of crimes now go unreported due to lack of police response”. And even when shoplifting crimes are reported and the police engage, more than three-quarters of cases are dropped without a suspect being identified and well under 10% of cases result in a charge.

The problem is especially acute in London, where last year the rise in reported incidents was a truly dystopian 54%. The perception of growing lawlessness in the capital is, in this respect, well-founded.

So what is the Government doing about it? Expect the Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, to point to the Crime and Policing Bill, which will make assaulting a retail worker a specific criminal offence. It will also repeal section 22A of the Magistrates Courts Act 1980 which sets a £200 threshold for the value of the stolen goods, below which the offence can be dealt with at a lower level of the court system.

But what does this really amount to? Assaulting shop workers is already illegal, and creating a specific offence is irrelevant if most offenders aren’t identified, apprehended and charged. Removing the £200 threshold is also largely cosmetic, since ministers acknowledge that the issue it caused was purely a matter of “perception” — it did not, in any way, limit the police’s scope for action. On that subject, it’s worth noting that the Police Chiefs’ Retail Crime Action Plan is already two years old and yet retail crime continues to explode.

Far from bolstering confidence, these eye-catching initiatives emphasise the failure of the authorities to get a grip. But given the extreme pressure on public finances, is there any alternative? As it happens, yes. Firstly, there should be a radical reordering of police priorities backed up by consequences for non-compliance. Take the example of Graham Linehan’s arrest for a series of tweets, a case which was finally dropped this week. In future, any similar episode shouldn’t just result in public derision, but instead disciplinary action against the senior officers for gross misuse of police resources (five officers arrived to arrest Linehan).

Secondly, the Government should work with retailers to coordinate private spending on security. If necessary, a levy on retail rents could be used to fund rapid response units, whose personnel would be legally empowered to detain and subdue offenders. Would this amount to a private police force? Absolutely, because if the shoplifters are organised, highly mobile and capable of using force, then the same should apply to their targets.

And thirdly, we shouldn’t rely on the criminal justice system alone to deter criminality. The fact is that officialdom in general is very good at making life difficult for people. Just think of what happens when you break a speeding limit, park in the wrong place, file a late tax return, fail to pay a TV licence fee, contravene planning regulations, outstay a visa, or cross numerous other lines.

That capacity for bureaucratic punishment should be systematically directed at low-level but habitual offenders whenever and wherever the police and the courts can’t cope. If the prisons are full, then use fines, driving bans, withdrawal of benefits, social housing evictions and deportations instead. If we appear to be powerless against the looters, it is only because we choose to be.

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Peter Franklin is Associate Editor of UnHerd. He was previously a policy advisor and speechwriter on environmental and social issues.

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