Shoplifting 'too easy' says study

Shoplifters everywhere know how to beat security, researchers say

Shoplifting is too easy and more needs to be done to tackle the problem, say University of Leicester researchers.

The university's spin-off company, Perpetuity, filmed shoplifters in the UK, the US and three other countries as they recreated their crimes.

Researchers found that the shoplifters all targeted certain stores and had remarkably similar techniques.

Retailers will now use the footage to help train their own staff in the fight against shoplifters.

Professor Martin Gill from the university said: "Wherever you go, despite the fact that security is there, they (shoplifters) know how to get around it. Just having security in itself is not enough."

'No easy solution'

Professor Gill said stores had to focus their security on the products which were most likely to go missing.

"I'm afraid it's thinking through the whole process - there's no magic or easy solution."

He added that the police were often criticised for their attitude towards shoplifting.

"It's a great lament of retailers that the police are not interested enough and this is often true around the world."

In 2005 shoplifting cost the UK retail industry almost £770m, an increase of almost one-third on the previous year.

Every time a shoplifter strikes he or she walks away with goods worth on average £149.