Here’s an informative piece in the Fakenham Times showing the number of shoplifting offences in the town. They even provide a PDF document showing a breakdown of the crimes over the last 5 years, courtesy of the SNT (Safer Neighbourhood Team).

Apparently, since 2005 shoplifting cases in Fakenham have risen from 16 during that year to 32 in 2009. As a comparison, in Dereham the 2005 figure was 78 and now stands at 133 (a slight fall from 2008). The supermarkets are the hardest hit, it seems.

The SNT reports that 72% of these crimes in our town result in charges or some kind of action against the culprit.

One interesting point I realised… I spoke to a shopkeeper in Fakenham last year who was fed up to the back teeth with kids pinching stuff from their shop.  They said they were thinking of closing, with this being a contributary factor (I remember that was moaned at for recounting the conversation on the Kick Start Facebook group at the time). The shop did close and now has a new owner.  Strangely, it doesn’t even appear in the list the SNT published.