Why I’m scared by Britain’s crime epidemic – and you should be too

The chainsaw Theresa May took to police budgets during austerity is coming home to roost, writes Alan Rusbridger. Shoplifting has effectively been decriminalised in this country, and there’s a growing impression that criminals can get away with anything. Nervous? I know I am...

Shoplifting is up around 25 per cent, with the police extremely unlikely to show up (Getty Images)

Does the apparent epidemic of shoplifting worry you? It rather scares me. I’m haunted by the multiple videos we’re now seeing of – usually – burly young lads helping themselves to whatever they fancy as shop owners or their inaptly-named security guards stand helplessly by.

In the same way that broken windows are said to send a signal about a neighbourhood, unchecked shoplifting seems to say something about a country. Britain is not exactly a lawless place, but the impression is certainly growing that you can get away with anything – up to and including daylight robbery – before you can expect a police officer to do more than give you a crime reference number.

Every time I read about the police not doing what we were brought up to think they would do I think of Theresa May. Are you old enough to remember the chainsaw she took to police budgets back in the fond old days of austerity?