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John Lewis is training its retail employees to tackle shoplifters following an increase in reports of the crime.
In an interview with the BBC, head of security Nicki Juniper said John Lewis was “investing heavily in training” for security and shop staff.
Juniper said: “Should they want to take part in some de-escalation training they’d be able to handle an incident should it arise.”
It is understood that certain staff are also doing training known as “love bombing”, which uses good customer service to deter abuse.
In addition, some staff now have body cams to catch offenders.
Another interviewee, Adrian Palmer, told the BBC that shoplifters are becoming more “brazen” and increasingly violent.
Palmer said: “This happens fairly often, more often than you would like. I wouldn’t say daily, but we’re probably not far off.”
It comes as the Welsh Retail Consortium (WRC) said there was a more than a 30% rise in violence and abuse towards staff in Cardiff between 2021 and 2022.
According to a BRC survey conducted in March, violence and abuse against people working in retail has almost doubled on pre-pandemic levels at over 850 incidents a day.
