'I've had someone drag me across the shop counter'
"We've had instances of us being pushed into fixtures and I've had someone drag me across the counter when I have refused to serve them."
Andrew Bond runs the Premier Store in Torquay, Devon, and is one of several shopkeepers in the South West who have said shoplifting has been a daily problem in recent years.
Devon and Cornwall Police said violence against shopworkers was increasing, but new reporting platforms have contributed to a significant rise in shoplifters being brought to justice.
Home Office figures show only 16% of reported shoplifting crimes resulted in a charge or summons in Devon and Cornwall in 2022-2023, but Sgt Chris Chaloner said that rate had risen to 31% since June 2026.
CCTV footage from around the region shows offenders physically assaulting shop workers, and attempting to steal in plain sight.
The police force is working with UK Partners Against Crime (UK-PAC) to develop an app retailers can use to record crimes and alert others if a shoplifter is in the area.
Bond said it had been effective in his store.
"It may take 20 minutes to do a 101 report but with this it can take a few seconds to add something so we can record everything," he explained.
He said the problems often worsened in the evenings, as people get increasingly desperate, and at times, intoxicated.
"We see our business as an extension of our home so it feels like people are invading our home when they are stealing from you," he added.
A national survey of almost 9,000 retail staff by the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers showed more than three-quarters had suffered verbal abuse.
Two-thirds of respondents said incidents of violence, threats and abuse they had experienced were triggered by shop theft or armed robbery.
The UK-PAC app is being rolled out to cities, towns and communities across Devon and Cornwall.
In Penzance, Cornwall, when an alert is raised that a shoplifter is in the area, shop owners and staff stand in front of their stores to stop them coming into their premises.
Rachel Gunderson, who owns the The Honey Pot cafe in Penzance, said it had helped her retrieve two expensive items stolen from nearby stores from a shoplifter who had come into her premises.
"I sat down, had a quiet conversation with her and I said, 'I think you might have been to a couple of my friends' shops and taken some things without paying for them. They've reported it to the police but if you give the stock back to me or pay for it in full, then they're not going to take it any further'."
'Serious violence'
Sgt Chaloner said it was important for police to catch the perpetrators.
"We know people who are committing shoplifting or shop theft will go on to commit other types of crimes such as serious violence and burglaries," he said
Previously, a large proportion of shoplifting offences were being closed because the police were not receiving CCTV images and statements needed to progress the investigation, he said.
The new platforms, such as the UK-PAC one, allow retailers to report crimes directly to police along with CCTV statements.
"This allows us to take quicker, swifter action against those prolific offenders and ultimately means they won't commit as much crime in the future," Sgt Chaloner added.
Stephen Manners, from UK-PAC, said in the three months to September 2026, the app had reported 855 incidents to Devon and Cornwall Police.
In Exeter, retailers are given handheld radios by Exeter Business Against Crime to report incidents to the CCTV control room which has 314 cameras positioned around the city.
Damien Curphey, store manager of Urban Outfitters, said shoplifting was a daily occurrence.
"If we feel like we're being threatened we contact control and they can send some PCSOs over and they can monitor over CCTV where that person goes once they've left the store," he said.
