Questions to the Mayor of London – answered at on 18 September 2020.
I note the report in the Daily Telegraph of 7 July 2020, which stated: ‘Kit Malthouse, the policing minister, is writing to chief constables saying the theft of goods valued up to £200 from a shop should be prosecuted as a criminal offence.’1 Has the Metropolitan Police decided that the shoplifting of goods of the value of less than £200 would not be prosecuted, if so who, when and why?
1 https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/07/07/victims-burglaries-assaults-thefts-getting-limited-service-police/#:~:text=Kit%20Malthouse%2C%20the%20policing%20minister,prosecuted%20as%20a%20criminal%20offence.%E2%80%9D&text=At%20its%20core%2C%20the%20problem,for%20policing%20considerably%20outstrips%20supply.%E2%80%9D
The actions of the Metropolitan Police are in this case, as in all cases, dictated by the relevant legislation. The Crime and Disorder Act classifies circumstances where the value of stolen goods does not exceed £200 as “low-value shoplifting”, which is a summary offence. A person guilty of low-value shoplifting can be imprisoned for up to 51 weeks, fined, or both. Where a suspect is apprehended, the premises where the offence occurred make the choice of whether to prosecute or not.