A Tenby store owner and member of The Federation of Independent Retailers has taken to the airwaves once again to slam retail crime and a lack of ‘consequences and convictions’ - with a report stating that 83% of shopkeepers have no confidence in the police.

Vince Malone who runs Tenby Stores and Post Office has once again spoken on TV to highlight how the issue is affecting him and other retailers up and down the country.

With Sky News’ UK Tonight Show reporting on offences being at their highest level in 20 years and showcasing how frequent retail crime is in stores, speaking with host Sarah-Jane Mee, Vince spoke passionately about an all too familiar scene.

“This is something that really concerns me and our members. £26,000 we lost last year, and we made a really large investment in our AI technology to be able to give us a fighting chance to combat this,” he remarked.

“But what we need is consequences, and it’s something that is a real concern to many retailers up and down the country.”

The report by Sky News showcased a joint report between themselves and the ACS, it showed 80% of shopkeepers experienced retail crime in the last week, 94% say shoplifting has got worse over the last year and 83% have no confidence in the police.

The Fed ran a similar survey in October and the results showed 72% of Fed members who responded are suffering the impact of retail crime, 90% agreed tougher sentences should be given and 91% believed more police patrols should be on the streets.

Vince and his wife Fiona who recently appeared on BBC’s Newsnight to discuss how brazen shoplifting has become, also gave an insight into his installed AI technology, stating: “It has worked on a number of levels, if someone comes into our shop and they are acting in a suspicious way, it automatically pings on our headsets that all our team are wearing and tells them that there is suspicious activity or stealing happening.

“That allows us then to go and either confront them or we will take a basket along to encourage them to use a basket. What it has done for us, is it has allowed us to identify where the problems are and tackle them a little bit more overtly so we can go forward and say ‘we have seen you’.

“There is always that risk of it going a little bit further and then leading to violence or abusive behaviour, and that’s something we are very keen to make sure we protect ourselves, protect our team and protect our customers from.”

The piece concluded with Vince slamming down that consequences are not being delivered or turned into convictions and spoke about his own experiences.

He expanded: “I don’t see the consequence…I want to make sure that we have a society that I want to live in, that I want my children to live in and collectively we have all got to work together.”