TWO prolific shoplifters are having a "shocking" impact on retailers in Falmouth and tackling it is being treated as a priority by police.

At a meeting of Falmouth Town Council on Monday night, PC Matt Cummings from the Falmouth Neighbourhood Team told councillors that they were trying to tackle the pair head-on.

In his report to the council PC Cummings said that the level of impact these two were having on retailers in the town was quite shocking.

“We are trying to tackle a couple of prolific shoplifters,” he said. “Which sounds quite minor but when you look at the level of impact they are having on retail operation in the town centre it is quite shocking.

“We are working on civil orders, namely criminal behaviour orders formerly known as ASBOs and working very hard to take community impact and business statements from people in order to try and tackle this pair who we’ve been inundated with emails about.”

Cllr John Spargo told the meeting that he was grateful for the police’s efforts, especially as his business had been the victim of shoplifters this week.

Shop thefts have more than doubled in the UK in the past six years, reaching eight million in 2022, The British Retail Consortium (BRC) estimates.

The chairwoman of the John Lewis Partnership, which also owns Waitrose, recently said shoplifting has become an “epidemic”, with incidents not always investigated by police

She said shop workers are having to put up with “abuse and attacks” from thieves.

The retail boss said a royal commission – which is an independent public inquiry – is needed to help support retailers.

There needs to be a “holistic view” of the problems facing high streets, rather than individually investigating issues such as tax, crime, planning, housing, and environmental policy, she argued.

Iceland executive chairman Richard Walker said his company is spending “more than ever” on security, yet “serious incidents have never been higher”.