There was a significant increase of more than 14 percent in shoplifting incidents across France last year. Shoplifters mainly take foodstuffs without paying, but clothes are also popular among them. A report published a few years ago suggests that shoplifters cause retailers several billion euros in losses every year.

Last year saw a significant, 6.2 per cent rise in inflation across France. In terms of foodstuffs, inflation was even higher, 12.1 per cent, data published in November by the French Statistical Office (INSEE) suggest.

As a consequence, people have to spend more on food while a growing number of them simply cannot afford the higher prices of products, so shoplifting is becoming more common as the prices continue torise. Le Parisien called attention to the fact that authorities registered more than 42 thousand such incidents in 2022, a 14 per cent increase compared to a year before.

The phenomenon is striking both in and around large cities and in the countryside. Police reported 23,377 shoplifting incidents in cities in 2021 and 26,829 in 2022, meaning an increase of 14.77 per cent. In the countryside, the 13,152 shoplifting incidents recorded in 2021 increased to 15,093 in 2022, which, at 14.76 per cent, follows the increase in the urban areas.

Jean-Cristophe Couvy, secretary of the police union Unite SGP Police, also spoke about the phenomenon, stressing that many shoplifters are ordinary people who have not committed such a misdemeanor before. However, a growing number of elderly people and students are now forced to steal food from supermarkets, because they wouldn’t be able to pay for it.

Euronews made a report before Christmas, shedding light on the fact that the situation of French university students is deteriorating, with one in five living under the poverty threshold, according to the channel’s journalist. The footage by Euronews shows an aid distribution with hundreds of university students queuing for free food and clothes. The phenomenon is not rare, the reporter noted, after he was told by two students that kiwi had become a luxury item for them.

Now, in terms of shoplifting, it is not just the volume of food thefts that is rising, as the number of audacious incidents also seems to have increased. A boutique owner in Amiens recently shared a short video on social media, clearly showing that a man is first browsing among the shirts, and then he looks around and slips one into his bag.

Ras le bol ! Encore cette semaine, 2 vols, á quelques minutes d’intervalle, á la boutique DERBY dans le centre ville d’Amiens. Bilan, perte de 700 euros. Nous avons déposé plainte au commissariat avec, selon la Police, « quasiment aucun espoir de retrouver les auteurs ». pic.twitter.com/G5Oiyi6v5d

— Jerome JEAN (@jeromejean80) January 14, 2023

It was the second theft in his shop that week, the owner wrote on Twitter, adding that he was fed up with thieves causing him a loss of 700 euros. He filed a complaint with the police but was told that the chances of finding the thieves were rather low, the CNews portal reported.

Jerome Jean, the shop owner, told Sud Radio that he published the footage taken of the incident on social media as a way to express his solidarity with fellow retailers in a similar situation. He added, however, that he also wanted to draw the attention of state authorities to the phenomenon. Shoplifters should be arrested and punished, otherwise they will steal again, he opined.

Le Parisien also cites a survey on shoplifting that was conducted a few years ago by the Lyon-based private investigation agency Cabinet Pannaud, highlighting that the results showed that in 2017, retailers incurred a loss amounting to around 5.3 billion euros due to shoplifting. The most frequently stolen items included cheese, razor blades, clothing accessories, perfumes and meat products.

In response to the widespread shoplifting problem, CPME, an employers’ organisation for small and medium-sized businesses, issued a statement calling on lawmakers to qualify shoplifting as a category of crime in the Penal Code and make it punishable with a fine, without bringing perpetrators to court.