Retail staff warned to ‘keep their eyes on everything’, amid a spike in violent shopping centre crime

WA retail staff were subjected to more than 40 violent crimes a day last financial year, alarming new figures have revealed. Retail crime intelligence company Auror — a service used by major retailers across Australia — recorded more than 133,000 retail crimes from June 2024 until July this year. More than 15,000 of those incidents involved weapons or violence, totalling more than 40 such incidents every day. The top 10 per cent of offenders reported caused more than 60 per cent of the financial loss or harm to stores and staff, according to the data. Weapons used during crimes in retail stores involved knives or blades 42 per cent of the time. Auror senior director Nick McDonnell said retailers were expected an increase of retail crime over the busy Christmas holiday shopping period. “When you increase the volume of the shopping, you’re going to increase the volume of the crime as well,” he said. “We would expect you’ll see that and retail workers are going to be super busy as well — there’s going to be a lot more people in their stores, and they’re going to have to have eyes on everything. “It’s going to be a pretty challenging time. “The big thing for us is: How can we... work with a lot of these retailers? How can we make sure they’ve got the right information, at the right time from a retailer-end to keep their people safe?” Scentre Group, which owns Westfield shopping centres, said the safety and security of customers and business partners remained its “highest priority”. “Our security approach is designed in close partnership with law enforcement and government agencies,” a spokesperson said. “We continually invest in initiatives, including technology, to improve our security practices across our destinations.” Scentre has partnered with WA Police on a trial to install automatic number plate recognition cameras at Westfield Carousel. “The cameras facilitate live data sharing to police, which enables them to detect vehicles being driven by persons of interest, entering our car park,” a spokesperson said. Shopping centre giant Vicinity Centres said it has a comprehensive security and incident management framework designed to create safe and welcoming environments across all its centres. “While retail crime and anti-social behaviour are challenges across the industry, our proactive approach helps us identify risks early and respond quickly,” a spokesperson said. “We don’t anticipate major incidents, but we are prepared with clear protocols and incident management plans to minimise disruption and maintain a positive experience for everyone.”