Peterborough shop owner warns of closure if retail crime worsens
Police say shoplifting offences have dropped
A Peterborough shop owner fears she may not be able to run her business if retail crime continued to get worse.
Figures from Cambridgeshire Police show from last April to the end of March, there were fewer shoplifting offences in the county than for the same period 12 months earlier.
"If you hear about a business being robbed for tens of thousands of pounds of stock, when it's somewhere like Tesco, you're like 'they can probably absorb that'," Natasha, owner of CommuniTea Gaming, said.
"If we were robbed for £10,000 of stock, I would close tomorrow."
Since opening last April, Natasha's shop at the Ortongate Shopping Centre in Orton Goldhay has been broken into once.
Cash, food and drink were stolen while there was also damage to a display unit.
'What are we supposed to do?'
Natasha said after calling police, officers were on site within an hour of reporting the crime and was able to reopen her shop the day after the break-in.
"There are different reasons that places get broken into and it's working out what those are and how to prevent that," she said.
"We don't keep cash on site is an example; we keep a lot of stock off site as well so that we don't have a big loss."
Natasha is aware of other shops close by which have also been targeted by shoplifters in the last year.
Since the break-in, she has received support from the local community but knows the crime could have been prevented.
"There's insurance, CCTV, alarms, you can have police on site within 15 minutes of a crime occurring, but within that 15 minutes (with) what's been taken and the damage done, what are we supposed to do?" Natasha said.
What is the police response?
Between April 2025 and the end of March this year, 7,160 shoplifting offences were reported to Cambridgeshire Police, compared to 7,639 for April 2024 to March 2025.
In his report for 2024-25, Darryl Preston - Cambridgeshire and Peterborough's police and crime commissioner - found there was a 22% rise in shoplifting on the year before.
That's despite an 11% drop in personal robbery offences and 4% less crimes involving criminal damage.
While Mr Preston's report found possession of weapon offences rose by 17%.
"We are working with partners and the business community to target shoplifting suspects and provide reassurance," a spokesperson for Cambridgeshire Police said.
“For repeat offenders we are applying for criminal behaviour orders, preventing them from entering areas where they have previously committed crime.
“The formation of the spree offender teams has increased the number of positive outcomes for retail crime and is testament to this ongoing good work."
Police say they've seen an increase in reporting of crime as they work closer with retailers.
24-hour policing
Last year, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said 3,000 new officers would be in post by this year, 30 of them allocated to Cambridgeshire.
Sir Keir pledged there would also be 13,000 extra staff by 2029 as part of the Government's neighbourhood policing guarantee.
Speaking at an event at Cambridgeshire Police HQ last year, Sir Keir said the "culture of crime that is destroying our communities must be brought to an end."
In January, Home Office figures showed officer numbers in the county have fallen in the past year, dropping to 1,707 which is 18 less than last September.
"There's been a lot of break-ins locally, but hopefully that police will act as more of a deterrent once they're here a bit more," Natasha added.
"If there was a form of security and/or police presence in the area 24 hours a day, it would help.
"I don't think it would solve the problem because nothing ever will, people will still commit crime, but it will help."