A former Metropolitan Police officer has urged retailers to equip security guards with batons and tasers to tackle what he describes as an epidemic of shoplifting across Britain.
Backing calls from Iceland boss Lord Walker of Broxton, Norman Brennan told GB News: "It's absolutely a good idea that security guards should be armed in some way, and it's right and far beyond time that the retail industry is actually speaking out."
Lord Broxton told The Times: "You go to Spain and all the security guards have pepper spray and a truncheon, they don't mess about.
"We call it shoplifting, which sounds like a cheeky bit of pilfering, but actually we should just call it out for what it is, which is violent crime."
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Mr Brennan lamented the current inability of security personnel to act against thieves, despite having legal powers to do so.
"The security staff just stand there, we see on social media everyday shoplifters coming in, often in couples or threes, filling their bags and walking out," he said.
"And the security staff have got absolutely no powers to do anything as far as they're concerned. In law, they actually do."
The former officer argued that retail theft should not be dismissed as a minor offence, given the substantial financial damage inflicted on businesses across the country.
Ex-police officer Norman Brennan has backed calls for shop staff to be armed with batons and tasers following this week's Clapham chaos
|GB NEWS / X
The former officer proposed a comprehensive training scheme to professionalise retail security, suggesting residential courses lasting between two and four weeks.
Mr Brennan continued: "And I believe that they should be trained by people like myself on a residential course for two to four weeks.
"And the type of people that we need are ex-military, ex-retired police officers and the like."
He outlined specific equipment requirements for these newly trained guards, including body-worn cameras, protective vests, batons, and taser training.
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Lord Walker insisted that even a single violent incident targeting his employees was unacceptable, arguing that the term 'shoplifting' trivialises what amounts to serious criminal behaviour | GETTYMr Brennan emphasised that arming security staff had become necessary because shoplifters were increasingly violent, moving beyond theft to physically attacking retail workers.
According to Mr Brennan, approximately 1,300 retail staff members face assault or abuse every single day across the industry.
"Some 1,300 shop staff in the retail industry a day are assaulted or abused, so I believe that they should be licenced after they've trained and be given the power to use the tools that they have," he stated.
The former officer called for trained security personnel to receive powers comparable to special constables, whilst insisting that police forces must respond to every reported shoplifting incident.
Mr Brennan told GB News that staff should be 'given the power to use the tools they have'
|GB NEWS
Mr Brennan also stressed that courts must fulfil their responsibilities in prosecuting offenders, warning that without judicial accountability, efforts to combat retail crime would prove futile.
The calls from the Iceland boss as well as Marks & Spencer follow the violent disorder which erupted in Clapham on Tuesday, with hordes of balaclava-clad youngsters seen running riot through the streets.
In a statement on the Clapham incident, London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan said: "The scenes we saw in Clapham earlier this week were truly unacceptable.
"Not only did they spread fear in their local community, but insulting and intimidating hard-working retail staff and police officers are serious offences. More arrests are likely to follow over the coming days."