Some shoplift 'just for the thrill', says officer
BBCA senior police officer said shoplifting was a "tough nut to crack" and some people steal simply "for the thrill of it".
"People in well-paid, respectable jobs come out in their lunch breaks and go and steal," said Det Insp Chris O'Brien from Cambridgeshire Police.
Police data showed shoplifting had increased by 51% across the county over the past five years, although it fell by 6% in the last year.
Across Cambridgeshire, some 7,161 incidents were reported in 2025-26, with Cambridge city centre identified as a hotspot. Half of shoplifting investigations ended without a suspect being identified, the force said.
In Peterborough city centre, 578 shoplifting incidents were reported in the year to July 2026 - an increase of 15.4% on the previous year.
More than 500,000 shoplifting offences were recorded by police forces in England last year, and on Wednesday the BBC ran a live page looking at the issue.
Speaking to BBC Radio Cambridgeshire's Chris Mann, O'Brien said: "There's a whole lot of reasons why people might shoplift - drug and alcohol addiction, cost of living, sometimes it's linked to organised crime. You will see items are stolen and then sold on markets or at car boots.
"Equally, we have had examples in the county where people are stealing for the thrill of it."
He said the force saw the impact the crime had on retailers, shop workers and the wider public.
'Complex crime'
O'Brien added that police data showed 16:00 on Wednesdays and 14:00 on Sundays were the most common times for shoplifting.
He urged businesses to report every theft.
"There are a range of measures we can take. We can obtain criminal behaviour orders and ban people from entering certain locations, which can be a strong deterrent," he said.
"It remains a focus for the force and we work extensively with businesses and communities to improve our response.
"People offend for different reasons, which makes it a more complex crime to tackle."
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