Christmas always bring happiness and joy with lots of love and allow humans to spend quality time with their loved ones. Have you ever noticed no matter how busy you are or how many other things you have to do, Christmas is the time when you must be present with the family, and pray for everyone?
Kids get amazing gifts and elders see them smiling, shining, and chirping with joy. What can be more beautiful than seeing your daughter laughing and playing with the toys you have bought for her with the utmost care and love? Christmas comes to unite us and remove hatred from our hearts for each other so we spend the next coming year with unity, care, compassion, and love.
We all love to go shopping on the days of Christmas. Some go for the extra discounts on black Friday and some grab the opportunity to buy from sales. FOMO (fear of missing out) is one of the things that forces most people to leave their houses and go to shopping malls to get their desired things at discounts. Those fancy discounts and sale offers grab the attention instantly and everyone tries to buy the items at the lowest prices.
This is the exact time when thieves, pickpockets, and robbers are waiting for you. These bad people ruin the whole shopping experience and target not only the shoppers but also the retail stores, shopping malls, and other businesses that are closed due to Christmas.
At Guard Mark Security, we’ve spent years protecting businesses during this crucial season and beyond. Drawing from our extensive experience in the security industry, we understand the patterns of crime and the risks they pose to businesses during the festive period. Discover more about the most dangerous areas in England and Wales and how proactive security can safeguard your operations
In this blog, we’ll discuss the key statistics around crime during Christmas, explain why it’s a growing concern for businesses across various sectors, and discuss how you can safeguard your business during this busy season.
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Why Do Crimes Increase During Festive Seasons (Mostly Christmas)?
You might be wondering, why crime rates suddenly increase in quarter 4 of the year and reach their maximum limit in the days of Christmas.
Long and Dark Nights with Bad Weather Conditions
Actually, Q4 is the start of the winter season in the UK which brings long and lonely nights. Now cherry on the top is cold and freezing weather conditions.
These long and dark nights with worse weather provide thieves and robbers the best environment to vandalise and rob businesses and pedestrians walking alone at night. This is one of the reasons we always discourage walking at night but if you have to for some reason, there are some tips we have compiled only for you so you don’t have to face the things like robbery or theft.
You can read our blog “10 Key Tips for Staying Safe When Walking at Night” to get the pro tips and techniques to ensure your safety and security while walking at night. Also, those are not the tips that every other security guru tells you about. Read the blog and you will get to know what we are talking about here.
Big Crowds in Retail Stores, Shopping Malls, and Streets
So, the number one reason we have discussed is dark and long nights with the bad weather conditions. Now let’s talk about the second one. During Christmas time, every business offers heavy discounts and sales which grabs the attention of everyone living there.
This brings a lot of shoppers to the streets, retail stores, and shopping malls. Now this crowded environment creates the best opportunities for thieves and pickpockets to steal your money and expensive goods including branded bags, rings, wallets, watches, bracelets, mobile phones, and more.
Snatch and run is also one of the common practises thieves and pickpockets perform in an environment of crowds and chaos. Retail store crime and shoplifting also increase during Christmas days due to the crowd and throng. Thieves easily steal expensive items from retail stores and vanish in the crowd with their years of experience and talent.
So, these two basically are the major causes of increased crimes and illegal activities during the Q4 and Christmas days.
How Has Guard Mark Security Sourced This Data?
At Guard Mark Security, our number one priority is to provide trusted and legitimate data. For this blog post, we have collected the data from 2023 and the first quarter of 2024 as it was the most recent and fresh batch of data available on the Office for National Statistics and some other police data repositories.
Moreover, we’ll usually talk about the Q3 of 2023 as it gives us the best statistics for the festive season and Christmas. Once you read all the crime statistics, you will be shocked because the statistics are unbelievably ridiculous. So, without wasting any time, let’s dig deep and check out the different crime statistics on Christmas Day.
Top Crime Statistics on Christmas
Let’s take a closer look at some key statistics on crime during the festive season and explore steps you can take to protect your business effectively.
1- Shoplifting
Shoplifting is one of the most common and prominent issues retail stores and shopping malls face. We all know that Christmas and the festive season bring joy to everyone and people leave their houses to buy presents and plan surprises for their loved ones.
But this season also brings crowds when almost everyone is out on the streets shopping providing the most awaited opportunity for shoplifters. Imagine the scenario when there are hundreds of people in a retail store asking for their desired products. All the staff will be busy providing the information, billing, packing, and more. This gives an ideal position for shoplifters to steal expensive items and take them before someone notices.
The shoplifting incidents are increasing day by day by a huge margin. According to Statista, 2023/24 was the time period with the highest number of shoplifting offences in the whole of England and Wales. England and Wales saw 443,995 shoplifting offences in 2023/24 which was the highest in history. When we look at the shoplifting graph of 2022/23, the number of offences was 342,428 in England and Wales.
As per the data published by the Police Repository for Q4 2022, it shows that England and Wales saw 107,955 shoplifting offences which means there is an increase of 2.6% when comparing with the first quarter of the year.
2- Highest Shoplifting Offences Region
We all know that London is one of the regions that is not safe anymore and the crime rate here is increasing day by day. Despite having the largest number of active police officers in the whole of the UK, London’s crime is increasing by a huge margin. In fact, there are many crimes in which London is on the top including the shoplifting and pickpocketing offences during the festive and Christmas time.
London is a major shopping hotspot and every year millions of tourists and visitors come for entertainment and business purposes. When looking at the statistics, London faced 14,656 shoplifting offences in the Christmas period and saved its spot at number one in criminal and illegal activities. West Midlands and West Yorkshire stand at 2nd and 3rd spots with 6,206 and 5,418 offences.
Moreover, when looking at the local authorities and statistics, Devon & Cornwall witnessed 17.7% shoplifting offences in Q4 as compared to the rest of the year. In addition to that, North Yorkshire saw a 5.1% increase, Northamptonshire saw a 3.8% increase, and Cumbria saw a 3% increase showing that authorities and police need to work harder for the sake of controlling such crimes.
3- Domestic Robberies During the Christmas Season
The available and published from the police repositories show that domestic robberies increase during the festive and Christmas seasons. When looking at the Statistics, data shows that in Q3, there were 17,940 domestic robbery incidents which is an increase of 5.2%.
4- Highest Domestic Robberies Region
You all know which region is at the first and we are going to talk about. Obviously, it’s London again with the highest number of domestic robberies in Q3 in the whole of England and Wales. According to the police dataset, London saw 8,031 domestic robbery incidents in Q3 which is almost four times higher than any other city or region in the UK.
When talking about the other regions, the West Midlands saw 1,907 domestic robberies and Manchester faced 922 offences. Moreover, the robberies crime rate has increased by a huge margin in the City of London and data shows an increase of 21.9%. There are also other areas with increased crime rates including Lincolnshire with a 9% increase, Metropolitan London with an 8.8% increase, and Nottinghamshire with a 7.7% increase in domestic robberies incidents.
5- Residential Burglary
A lot of people plan vacation during the festive or Christmas season and some leave the country to spend some quality time with their loved ones and family. This is the time when burglars look for houses that are empty and closed. Some people even say that thieves and burglaries wait for the festive season and keep a close eye on potential houses where they can find good stuff.
When the house owners leave the house for vacation purposes, burglars invade and take all the expensive items and money. When looking at the data for both Q3 and Q4, the statistics are devastating and shocking at the same time. The data from the police repositories shows 48,746 burglary incidents happened in Q3 and 45,627 incidents in Q4 equating to an increase of 7.3% in the crime rates of England and Wales.
6- Highest Residential Burglary Region
Now again London is on top when talking about residential burglary. In Q3, London faced 10,009 residential burglary incidents making it the top in the whole of the UK. West Midlands is in 2nd spot with 4,142 incidents. When talking about Manchester and West Yorkshire, they faced 3,529 and 2,761 residential burglary incidents in Q3.
Business Robberies
We all know that businesses shut down their machines and five holidays to all their employees during the festive and Christmas season. During these holidays, the business establishments are vulnerable to theft and robberies. The dark nights of winter and freezing temperatures force everyone to be in the cosy hot bedrooms which gives the robbers the ideal time to rob the businesses.
The most recent and fresh batch of data revealed that there were 2,797 corporate and business robberies that happened in the UK in Q3 which is 14.8% higher as compared to Q2.
1- Highest Business Robberies Region
London again is at the top with the highest number of reported corporate robberies in the whole of England and Wales. London’s police reported 1,224 corporate and business robberies which makes it the worst and most dangerous area for business robberies in the UK.
West Midlands is at the 2nd spot with 253 Business Robberies incidents, Avon & Somerset is at 3rd with 199 incidents, and Greater Manchester is at 4th with 156 incidents. Now if you analyse these statistics closely, the number of crimes is way lower than in London but still, the areas need improvements because business robberies are not like domestic theft or burglary, it is the most serious and planned form of robbery in which a huge manpower is needed.
2- Employee Theft
Employee theft is one of the issues retail stores and shops face. According to some independent sources, staff theft accounts for roughly 40% of the total retail and business theft that happens in a year. Moreover, they have said that it costs roughly £140,000 per incident in the UK.
In recent years, staff theft has been decreasing year by year but still, it is one of the things that is accountable for many huge losses. Many retail stores and shops hire in-house detectives and security guards to ensure that such activities happen in their stores.
The most fresh batch of data shared that employee theft in Q3 increased by 9.5% and the reported number of cases was 1,630 incidents. Now you can imagine how much this crime cost the businesses and is accountable for losses.
3- Highest Employee Theft Region
Now again, London is the region where the highest number of employee theft cases was being reported to the Metropolitan Police. According to statistics, the reported number of thefts in which employees were involved was 203 incidents making London top worst area for employee theft in London.
Greater Manchester comes in 2nd with 98 incidents, Thames Valley at number three with 80 incidents, and West Yorkshire at fourth with 74 incidents in Q3 alone. Moreover, Lancashire is one of the areas where the employee theft crime rate hiked by a huge margin with 66 incidents in Q3 meaning a 43.5% spike as compared to the 2nd quarter.
4- Theft From Vehicles
Imagine it’s a Christmas season and you have planned to go out with your family to spend some quality time. You have parked your car near a family park and asked your kid to have fun. Everyone enjoyed a lot but you have no idea that all of your enjoyment, entertainment, joy, and happiness is about to leave. When you came back to your car, the window glass was broken all of your valuable items, gifts, and money were gone.
Theft from vehicles is a serious issue and is increasing in the UK due to its easy opportunities. Some expert thieves even know the techniques by which you can open a vehicle’s door without breaking the glass. In Q3 (golden period), the number of reported cases of theft from vehicles was 50,622 incidents. Imagine such a huge number of offences and incidents happened only in four months of the festive period. When looking at the overall percentage of the crime rate, a 3.2% increase happened in Q3 as compared to Q2.
5- Highest Theft From Vehicles Region
You shouldn’t be surprised if we say London is the region that faced the highest number of theft from vehicle cases and incidents. Due to its densely populated nature, London witnessed 15,781 theft from vehicle offences making it the top and worst area when it comes to theft from vehicle offences in the whole of the UK.
West Midlands is at the 2nd spot with 3,346 incidents, Greater Manchester at 3rd with 2,789 incidents, Thames Valley at 4th with 2,180 incidents, and West Yorkshire at 5th with 2,074 theft from vehicle offences. Remember, we are just telling you the top 5 areas with the highest theft from vehicles. There are many other areas and regions in the UK facing theft from vehicles during the festive seasons.
6- Vehicle Theft Incidents
Vehicle theft is also one of the issues that costs millions of pounds every year. Festive season is the one in which most of the theft happens including vehicle and house robberies. Now you might be thinking what is the link between both festivals and vehicle theft?
We have discussed above about the residential burglaries in which we told you that homeowners leave the houses for vacation and touring purposes. The same happens in this scenario as well. Homeowners leave their vehicles as well during the festive seasons when need to go foreign for the sake of enjoyment. This is the golden time for thieves when they access their garages and steal their vehicles without any issue or resistance.
7- Highest Vehicle Theft Region
Now again, London is on the top when it comes to vehicle theft. The latest statistics show that London faced 8,417 vehicle theft incidents in Q3 of the year. Imagine in only one city, more than 8 thousand vehicles got stolen in 4 months, costing millions. West Midlands is at the 2nd spot with 3,900 incidents, Greater Manchester at 3rd with 1,703 incidents, and West Yorkshire at 4th with 1,654 vehicle theft incidents in just 4 months.
Things You Need to Do to Ensure Your Safety During Christmas Time
Here are some tips you can use to ensure your safety during the Christmas period:
Don’t Share on Social Media
Undoubtedly, social media is the thing that helps us connect with the world and has unlimited positive attributes. But there are some negative things as well you need to avoid for the sake of your and your family’s safety.
So now what you need to do is stop sharing your updates on social media. There is absolutely no need to tell the whole world that you are going to another country for vacation or anything else. Try posting such content and if you want to tell the world about it at any cost, then go for the vacation, enjoy it with your loved ones, click the memories, and post once you come back home.
Tell Your Neighbours
When leaving home for some days, tell your neighbours about your vacation and request them if they can take care of your house. All they need to do is keep a close eye on your house, visit your home, turn on and off the lights, and remove the curtains during the daytime so other people think that you are still here at your home.
Use Approved Locking Systems
With one innovation and technology, there are locks that are hard to break or breach. Try to use those British Standard Approved Locks at all the access points to ensure the home’s safety and protection.
CCTV Installation
CCTV is one of the best innovations in the security industry. Install the CCTV cameras in your home and connect them to your mobile phone so no matter where you are, you can keep an eye on your house to have peace of mind.
Motion Sensors
You can also install motion sensors in both your houses and business properties. Once set up the motion sensors are set up, connect them to your phone so when the motion sensor devices detect any movement, they will send you alert messages for the sake of prompt action.
Delivery Management
A non-serious attitude related to the deliveries is also one of the causes that make your house a potential target for thieves and burglars. Manage your deliveries properly and don’t leave excessive delivery packages on the show.
Stay Safe This Holiday Season with Guard Mark Security
The festive season may bring joy and celebration, but it also comes with its unique set of challenges when it comes to safety and security. While the statistics we’ve shared paint a concerning picture, taking proactive measures can help ensure your business stays protected during this busy time.
At Guard Mark Security, we’re here to help you stay secure throughout the holiday season. Whether you need experienced security guards, CCTV monitoring for your retail space during the festive rush, or reliable alarm response and keyholding services while your team enjoys the holidays, we’ve got you covered.
Our services are backed by a dedicated 24/7/365 support team, ensuring that you’re never left without assistance, even during the busiest times of the year. Let us help you create a safer, more secure environment this Christmas.
