Every 6 minute there is a theft in a shop or in a craft workshop: cost for 3,3 billion operators per year

Although this crime has been decreasing for some years, the frequency with which it is committed makes one shudder: 1 every 6 minutes; 10 every hour and 246 every day. We are talking about the thefts in shops and artisan shops which - according to the complaints made in Italy by the owners of these activities - reached almost 90 thousand units in 2017, the last year in which the data are available. An economic cost for commercial operators estimated at around 3,3 billion euros per year.

This is the CGIA Research Department.

The comparison with the last few years, however, is comforting. Compared to the 2014, the year in which almost 106.500 complaints reached its peak, the contraction at the national level was of 15,6 per cent, with peaks of reduction ranging between 23 and 25 per cent in Veneto, in Piedmont, in Calabria and Sardinia. Among all the regions of Italy, in the four-year period 2014-2017 only Campania has seen an increase in complaints (+ 2,7 per cent).

Report the coordinator of the Paolo Zabeo study office:

"This sharp contraction at national level is attributable both to the preventive action carried out by the police and the carabinieri, and to the huge investments made in recent years by shopkeepers and artisans in video surveillance systems and in the services provided by security institutions. However, it cannot be excluded that these data are also partly conditioned by the refusal of many shopkeepers to report the thefts. In fact, there are not a few owners of small shops who - after having undergone yet another shoplifting or the usual raid - were taken by despair and decided not to contact the police anymore.".

A problem, that of security, which involves, in spite of themselves, thousands and thousands of commercial and artisan activities. The secretary of the CGIA declares Renato Mason:

“The sectors most at risk of shoplifting are, for example, perfumeries, grocery stores, clothing stores - especially sports - and electrical and electronic equipment. On the other hand, jewelers and watchmakers mainly end up in the sights of thefts with dexterity, while car repairers and public establishments - such as bars, restaurants and arcades - are almost always victims of burglary".

In addition to the grab and run, the methods most used by the bad guys to steal the merchandise displayed on the shelves are the breaking of anti-theft labels / plates and the use of screened bags. Many operators also point out that more and more often they are victims of micro-bands, composed of 2-3 people, often specialized and well-equipped, with tools to detach anti-shoplifting labels, jammer (ie frequency jammers) and warehouses to store the swag.

If we compare the number of thefts reported by commercial and artisanal operators every 100 thousand inhabitants, it emerges that in the 2017 the most "affected" region was Emilia Romagna (233,8). Followed by Tuscany (215,4), Liguria (207), Lombardy (201,6) and Piedmont (166,2). At the end of this particular ranking we can see Molise (70,3), Calabria (57) and Basilicata (36,3). The national average was equal to 148,6.

Although the number of shops and shops robbed in relation to the inhabitants is concentrated in particular in the Center-North, the situation is reversed when we analyze the percentage of thefts in which those responsible are not handed over to the judicial authorities. In fact, in 2017, Campania was the region where the share of crimes for which the author was not discovered during the year was higher than all the others (86,2 per cent). Follow Puglia (81,3 per cent) and Calabria (80,6 per cent). The most "virtuous" areas, on the other hand, were Sardinia (67,7 per cent), Valle d'Aosta (67,2 per cent) and Trentino Alto Adige (66,2 per cent). The national average stood at 76 per cent.

Every 6 minute there is a theft in a shop or in a craft workshop: cost for 3,3 billion operators per year

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