THE GENDER OFFENDERS / Centre for Retail Research, Nottingham UK, July 2005

Centre for Retail Research, Nottingham UK: "'There is a wide assumption that retail crime is a female pre-occupation. This is probably based upon the anecdotal evidence that more women than men like shopping or work in retail, but the evidence we have from the stores that our systems protect is that it is men, often working in gangs and increasingly using violence, who are causing problems for staff and security personnel. In terms of staff theft, we are now targeting this offence in a different way and we believe we will see the figures coming down in line with those of overall shoplifting.'"